What the—?   Who the—?   Where the—?

The entertainment arts and sciences have preoccupied me since age six when I decided I wanted to work for Bugs Bunny.

The first obstacle I ran into was typical: my family regarded my basic goal as nonsense, which explains why my occupational history began with medical school and then working as an actual doctor for a bit, which I did well, but there was a big problem: it turns out an ambition to work for Bugs Bunny isn’t a thing you can just switch off and forget.→ read the rest

Wedding Official

My friends Anthony and Kumi asked me to officiate at their wedding because, they said, “We trust you.” “Why?” I asked. They squinched their eyes as if searching for an answer, then told me “Look, just write something great about us and keep it to ten minutes.→ read the rest

Advice To a Young Musician

Families can be a good source of advice, but input from other adult role models becomes important as a kid gets older, especially if the kid is the black sheep of his family, and could benefit from the wisdom of another black sheep. → read the rest

before-and-after

I needed space. Here’s the story.

Rehabilitation

Life is not perfect; this is not a tragedy.

Two years ago, before that summer, my life had its particular details, but anyone would have recognized its pattern of ups and downs as both familiar and normal. Then my mother-in-law’s diabetes dropped her into the hospital’s intensive care unit four times in three months.read the rest