The other day, after speaking at a conference and going out for dinner, I happened to pass a noisy and friendly family in the lobby of my hotel. They had heard my speech and invited me to join them for “a beer.” This was an understatement if there ever was one, since they were ensconced among several coolers and cargo-sized bags of popcorn and chips. … Continue reading Meals with Infants

One of the delights of director John M. Chu’s comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” is hearing the reasons viewers worldwide are finding the film important or fun. Gleeful American-born Asians celebrate Hollywood attention. Real-life crazy rich Asians apparently thrill to identifying familiar places or people they think they know. Many viewers are excited about new, non-white male heartthrobs who are not Idris Elba. Is it time … Continue reading Crazy Rich Culture

Everyone knows that learning a foreign language exposes you to another culture. New words open doors to new ideas and things. But sometimes, it works the other way around. New ideas and things call for foreign words to step in when there is no good native equivalent. When coffee still came from the office vending machine, no one needed a word to describe the person … Continue reading A Jester’s Glossary

It’s commencement speech season. I have never been under the illusion that any educational institution would ever ask me to give America’s answer to the papal benediction. Yet over the years I have saved up advice, just in case I might be summoned. This may be the moment. It turns out that Brown University, where my daughter will graduate in a few days, has the … Continue reading Puritans Like Me

Though I returned to the United States last summer after 30 years of living in Italy, daily events still have me comparing the two countries. You would think that three decades of back and forth would have exhausted such tendencies. Strangely, though, my return to New Hampshire (rather than my time spent as a Milan expatriate) has accentuated certain differences. During a recent grocery-shopping trip … Continue reading Pilgrims, Pioneers, and Italians

I recently saw “The Opera House,” a delightful documentary by Susan Froemke about the Metropolitan Opera’s 1966 move from its beloved and ramshackle home in New York’s theater district to its current location in the purpose-built, utopian “cultural center” of Lincoln Center. Intentionally or not — Froemke probably began the project before the 2016 election — an arcane, high-culture topic quietly exposes telling contrasts between … Continue reading A Sense of Public Decorum

While watching the Winter Olympics when I should have been writing, I heard the same cliché over and over. Whether it was advertisers hawking cars or commentators telling competitors’ stories, there was a constant refrain about the Olympic dream we have all harbored. The activities of writing and competing in the Olympics do not invite obvious comparison (medals for the fastest personal essay? for the … Continue reading Gold Metal Art

When I first moved to Italy 30 years ago, its politics bewildered me. I couldn’t keep the innumerable parties and factions straight. News reports hindered more than they helped. Coverage was all about who was up or down or what politicians were saying about each other rather than issues. I eventually decided that Italian politics were like the internal combustion engine, something I would never … Continue reading Cui Bono