The maladied interpreter (also published on the New America Media blog)
While listening to Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories on my IPod, I could relate to Mr. Kapasi, the Indian interpreter/driver protagonist, in The Interpreter of Maladies. Mr. Das is driving an Indian-American family visiting Konarak, India. He finds out that Mrs. Das, his [...]

“Nostalgia is not what it used to be”
This is the title of Simone Signoret’s autobiography. I’ve never read it. But, I’ve always liked the title. It came to mind today as I was thinking about the books I had donated to the library and how happy I am to be getting rid of momentos and [...]

In an effort to get into shape and lessen my impact on global warming, I went to get a new bike today. I’ve been shopping for one for a while. Having been out of town for a little over a week, I came home tired of moving around by airplane and changing locations and time [...]

Today, I wake up in English, discuss household items in Russian, muse about life and love in French and go to bed in Italian.
As I lay in bed reading my nighttime book, Un altro giro di giostra (Another ride on the Merry-go-round), by Tiziano Terzani, I was thinking about how funny it is to have [...]

I’ve been at Book Expo America (BEA) in Los Angeles since yesterday learning about how to publish in a digital world. I’ve been learning a lot and have been connecting with experts in the area. So many authors and publishing companies don’t know how to attract online audiences, so the faster I learn, the more [...]

Coughing up phlegm, coughing deeply, blowing my noise, talking like a chain smoker — all signs of illness.
My Dad pleaded for me to go to Kaiser and get an Xray. Maybe I had bronchitis.
I went to the Five Branches School of Chinese medicine for treatment. I’d rather take herbs and be poked with [...]

I arrived at the Sunnyvale Caltrain station and there was no parking in the train parking lot. Instead, I parked in a municipal lot across the street from the train station and risked getting a parking ticket since the parking lot had a three hour limit. I parked, ran to the station and arrived breathless [...]

My parents often read the Russian language newspapers printed in the US for the predominantly Jewish Russian speaking community. A while ago, my father showed me an article about Barack Obama’s Muslim roots. With alarm, my Dad said that Obama was dangerous for the US because both his father and stepfather were Muslim and he [...]

Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercleSur l’esprit gémissant en proie aux longs ennuis…
Ainsi que des esprits errants et sans patrieQui se mettent à geindre opiniâtrement.
When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lidOn the groaning spirit, victim of long ennui,
Even as wandering spirits with no countryBurst into a stubborn, whimpering [...]