(Making Me Understand is an occasional blog feature where I analyze, in brief or at length, what a particular work of art or an artist means to me right now.) I’ve been at the periodic scans thing for a while now. This November will mark four years since metastatic melanoma last troubled me. I have … Continue reading Making Me Understand: “The Waiting,” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

(Making Me Understand is an occasional blog feature where I analyze, in brief or at length, what a particular work of art or an artist means to me right now.) I wrote this post months ago. It fell victim to a slip of the finger in my mobile WordPress app and got deleted. So I’m … Continue reading Making Me Understand: Robyn Hitchcock

(Making Me Understand is an occasional blog feature where I analyze, in brief or at length, what a particular work of art or artist means to me right now.) When I was in junior high, I hated school. I hated being in my skin. I reached my current height of six feet right around eighth grade. … Continue reading Making Me Understand: “Souffles,” by Birago Diop

Making Me Understand is an occasional blog feature where I analyze, in brief or at length, what a particular work of art or artist means to me right now. Nina Katchadourian went viral sometime in the past year or two. Maybe you’re not recalling her by name. But if I tell you that she was … Continue reading Making Me Understand: Nina Katchadourian

Making Me Understand is an occasional blog feature where I analyze, in brief or at length, what a particular work of art or artist means to me at this given moment. When it was time to leave for our drive back north this morning (much later than we’d planned, owing to late night/hangover concerns), I … Continue reading Making Me Understand: “Do Your Thing,” by The Clean

(“Making Me Understand” is a series of occasional posts where I talk about a particular work of art or artist and discuss its relevance to me, both historically and in my present situation. Here are the others in the series.) Long ago and far away, in college, I bought an album by the Dutch band … Continue reading Making Me Understand: “Healthy Sick” by Sebadoh

This series of occasional posts, Making Me Understand, is where I explore some corner of music, art or literature which I’ve always loved but which seems particularly relevant to me now. I’m not trying to do any scholarly/critical writing here. These are, like everything else on the blog, primarily personal essays. Prior posts in this … Continue reading Making Me Understand: The Mekons

I’m starting a recurring feature (since I think I’ve posted enough in this blog to do that now) called Making Me Understand. Ruminations from inside my illness about art (any form) that has taken on new contours for me as I struggle with disease. I already posted one earlier this month, a quickie on a Frank … Continue reading Making Me Understand: John Lurie

I’ve been thinking a lot about Frank O’Hara’s poem, “The Day Lady Died,” in which the technique of skirting the issue, forestalling, not telling until almost the end what has happened, evokes the day of the death of Billie Holiday. The other poem he reads above, “Song,” is different but offers that same kind of … Continue reading Making Me Understand: Frank O’Hara

School’s out. The kids’ final report cards came in the mail… but they weren’t here to receive them. Last week, we dropped them off at camp for three and a half weeks. It is our summer vacation. Even though it’s the third summer in a row they’re gone, the sudden silence that descends over the … Continue reading Summer torpor