I was lucky, when I entered corrections some years ago, that my training instructor was Vinny Nigro. He was a man of exacting standards who had a great sense of humor – mostly at his own expense. (“The inmates call me Abbott,” he said, a reference to the fat member of the Abbott & Costello comedy duo of the 40s and 50s.) That humor was a welcome relief in the boot camp atmosphere of corrections academy read more

On Thanksgiving, I will be among the millions of Americans who have the somewhat unpleasant experience of handling a raw turkey, recently out of the refrigerator, relieved of its plastic coating. Somebody has to rinse the big clammy thing, pat it dry with paper towel, and otherwise prepare it for the oven. In our family, that person is me. read more

Some of my subjects, I admit, are a bit dark. But this one is the opposite. I first came upon Ophelia Dahl in Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. (I had met Farmer while researching the story of Christy Mirach in the early 90s–see my previous blog post for more.) The daughter of author Roald Dahl, read more

In 1994 I published an article in the New York Times Magazine called “The Hand-Off.” It was about the search of a young mother with AIDS, Evelyn Mirach, for someone to become guardian of her daughter, Carmen (nicknamed Christy), age 11, once Evelyn died. (This was before the advent of anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease.)

Last month the magazine did an update on Carmen, read more

Last Sunday was my friend Rick’s birthday. But two weeks earlier, his car’s odometer reached 200,000. Which matters more?

I know about the miles because he took a picture of the zeroes turning with his BlackBerry and sent it to me. I imagine he did that because the car used to be mine. It’s a 1995 Honda Accord EX wagon; my wife and I got it new. Rick took possession at 90,000-some miles, and drove it home to North Carolina. And has driven it and driven it and driven it since. read more

Sometimes when I’m writing I get behind on my movie viewing, and so it was only recently that I got to watch “How to Train Your Dragon,” a movie recommended by my son. The premise of the animated film is this: Viking-like villagers on a Norse island are plagued by visitations of flying dragons. The dragons arrive in a swarm, snatching up sheep, blowing balls of fire, and generally wreaking havoc. read more

As literature struggles to retain its place of importance in our cultural life, it’s thrilling to see the birth of a new and serious magazine. The first issue of The Common, just released, is beautiful to look at, inspiring to read – and now on sale in better book stores! The Common also has an online presence, here. read more

Last week Tim Hetherington was killed in Libya. Hetherington was a British photographer who lived in New York. With Sebastian Junger, he made “Restrepo,” the Oscar-nominated documentary about American soldiers at a remote, harrowed post in Afghanistan.

It’s a huge loss, to journalism and to all of us. I thought “Restrepo” was deeply impressive but you don’t need to watch it to get a sense of the artistry of Tim Hetherington. read more