Why is it that I could gain 50 or 100 pounds and still sit in the same seat on an airplane and not have to pay a higher fare but should my luggage be four pounds over the limit I am required to pay an extra $50 unless I redistribute it? On Continental my second checked bag would cost an additional $25 but I'm allowed to take that bag – and 2 others – into the cabin with me. So there we are – a full flight with all of us slinging around several bags down the aisle, bouncing them off of other… Continue

He didn't hear his Blackberry alarm at 8am. It wasn't supposed to be an invasive sound, like a regular alarm clock, because he was usually semi-awake by the time the morning light introduced itself to his eyelids through the only window in his otherwise dingy studio apartment. He had been looking forward to this morning's destiny-shaping meeting with his lawyers that, if all went well, would allow him a new life and a way out of this shithole. On bad days he was only partly successful in… Continue

It was one of those days – where I just couldn't stand it any longer and had to cut my hair. My girlfriend, who understood that these times are different than the carefully pre-planned trips to the stylist, had long ago gifted me with professional shears. I had watched Legends Of The Fall once with a boyfriend who didn't understand why Susannah cut off a piece of her hair nor why she shot herself in the end. I understood too well. It is because of men like him who don't understand – after… Continue

The serial killer brushed the sleeve of my coat as we passed each other in the middle of the intersection. How did I know it was him?, you may ask. I could smell the future of many innocent lives scattered in the wake of his self indulgence. I had visions - electric - of devastation, destruction, and, death. Word upon word upon word lay spread-eagled, supine and prone, never to inform, nor entertain again. Lines and lines of them lay parallel, blackened, stiff, lifeless on the page -… Continue

It was one of those dreaded 'middle of the night' phonecalls: “Can you come to the hospital with me?”. He'd had a major heart attack a year earlier and was currently having familiar symptoms. I hailed a cab outside my building, picked him up, and headed to the hospital of his choice in the undesirable La Boca area of Buenos Aires.



Now, I want you to erase any thoughts you may have about what a hospital experience in a foreign Latin American country, in the worst section of the inner… Continue