5 Things That Scare Me

5. The worst music videos of all time were all made between 1979-1985. Those should have been crucial formative years for my aesthetic sensibilities. Instead, I made Toto mix tapes. See NPR’s Bottom 8…the horror. 4. Now Serving 7 Billion– Guess why I’m not having kids? Just doing my bit for the planet. See “World Population: A National…

Maple Leaf Rag

Maple Leaf Rag was my favorite piano piece when I was a kid. I was actually pretty decent at playing it. Good enough, at least, that my parents thought it would be a great idea to dress me up in a little bowler hat and suspenders when I was twelve years old and “encourage” me…

Pink Ribbon Pushback

The best stories usually come looking for me. Last spring, an acquaintance called and asked me out for a drink. Amy Patterson (right) is kind of an icon in this town. She’s gorgeous, a successful stylist and motion picture costumer, and for years she owned a marvelous vintage boutique called Venus and Mars. I knew…