fiction

The Kali Yuga is a teenage hangover

Your mother’s voice, calling you to get ready for school. Immediately, the slice of the headache. The undercurrent of nausea in your throat and stomach, the leaden quality of the bones. You shouldn’t have gone out drinking last night. She is calling again, your mother—her footfalls are nearing your door. When the drinking first began,… Continue reading The Kali Yuga is a teenage hangover

essays

The Buddha meets Hitler

The prospect of an entirely blank universe, an empty shell. Of course such a prospect is unimaginable to the human mind, but usually we substitute in its place four white walls, the equivalent of a film set’s green screen. Within this empty shell, sound would echo infinitely, and yet there is no sound. Does such… Continue reading The Buddha meets Hitler

essays

Love at first sight in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

I am currently teaching Romeo and Juliet to 9th graders, and recently we read and discussed act 1, scene 5, in which the eponymous characters meet for the first time. During this meeting, Romeo delivers the following speech, one so beautiful and pure as to bring a tear to my eye: O, she doth teach… Continue reading Love at first sight in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”