Every morning from the bedroom window of the condo, I watch the sun rise over the water. Most days begin as smears of coral against a wash of night-blue, then bring on the drama in pink and peach as the fireball edges into view. Cloudy days take a more minimalist approach: misty layers of gray, […]
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Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
Things one does not expect
Note: This piece is in the style of the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Japan during the 990s — one of the world’s first great personal essayists, who thought she was only keeping a diary. Her lists have titles like “Things That Make The Heart Beat Faster,” “Occasions When Time […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
More Pets of Evergreen
As I mentioned a while ago, I’ve been collecting stories about pets from my neighbors here in this little corner of North Baltimore. You may have read the sad and unusual story of Jupiter, a dog who was killed by a cop. Here are two more from the growing pile, one dark, one light.
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
The Astonishment of Watching People Grow Up
In the first years of life, babies change so fast. The milestones are so clear, so important, so closely and nervously monitored, so joyfully celebrated. What better show does nature put on than the transformation of a squirming, squalling creature in a blanket and a nursery cap into a person, an ever bigger and more […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
Lent Report
Last week, I received an email from Carrot Ink, the company from whom I purchase supplies for my printer. GET READY FOR MARDI GRAS, it urged in puffy purple letters festooned with GIF confetti and wagging carnival masks. 18% off all ink and toner with coupon code PARTY18. Today can’t be Mardi Gras, was my first thought. […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
No Time Off for Good Behavior
Readers: I wrote the following essay a long, long time ago. Whether you are raising small children now or whether you are, like me, looking in the rear view of an empty nest, it could make you feel better about things. Yours truly, M. Winik, setting the low bar on parenting since 1988. I see […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
Oprah: This is your sign from God
Toward the end of last year, I was down in Virginia visiting my 92-year-old ex-mother-in-law Joyce, and Jane, her sister-in-law, a former ambassador. Joyce reads the Washington Post from cover to cover every day, while Jane reads the New York Times with equal thoroughness, though she eschews the Thursday Style section. I asked these avid and perspicacious followers […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
The Luxury of Solitude
At Thanksgiving dinner, as we went around the table saying what we were grateful for, my daughter Jane gave thanks for leaving home, for the excitement of starting a new part of her life on her own. For a second, I thought about being hurt by this, but she assured us that she meant it […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
This Dog’s Life: A Tale of Love and Armed Robbery
Before I was struck down by my rebellious appendix last summer, I had started a new writing project, collecting stories about pets in my three-block Baltimore neighborhood, Evergreen, founded in 1873. Many of its original residents were the construction workers and tradesmen who helped build Roland Park, the elegant, affluent quarter that surrounds us on all […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
The Baltimore Book of the Dead
Marion Winik just released her latest memoir, “The Baltimore Book of the Dead,” out from Counterpoint. This week we publish an excerpt from the introduction of the book, which is a compilation of essays about people she’s lost. Marion approaches the touchy subject of death with emotion, wisdom, and humor as only she can. If you’re […]
Posted inFeatured
Another unbelievable Airbnb nightmare
The following is a letter I have composed for my son’s girlfriend, Shannon. **** Dear Airbnb, I just received an email asking me to rate my recent experience–July 13-15, 2018–on a scale from terrible to great. As there is no option that adequately describes my experience, please bear with me while I explain. The story […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Marion Winik will read from her new book at the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend
Our own Marion Winik, writer of the Baltimore Fishbowl monthly column Bohemian Rhapsody, will premiere her new book, “The Baltimore Book of the Dead” on Sunday, September 30 at 5 p.m. on the Inner Harbor Stage at the Baltimore Book Festival. The book is a compilation of funny, intimate and moving essays about people who […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
I was the Oldest Person at the Taylor Swift Concert
Have you heard of Car Seat Headrest? Neutral Milk Hotel? Nilüfer Yanya? Tay-K? Alt-J? Milo, the rapper who references Nabokov and Aristotle, rhyming “axis” with “praxis”? These are some of the musicians we listened to in the car Tuesday night coming home from the Taylor Swift concert. My daughter Jane, who turned 18 last month […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
Welcome to My Anticlimax: The Empty Nest Report
Since Jane has not yet been gone for a month, it’s a little early to call it. “It” being the long-dreaded experience of the empty nest. The nest in question had been in operation for 32 years, if we count from the day in 1986 when I quit drugs, drinking, coffee and everything else I knew […]
Posted inBohemian Rhapsody
On Not Being Roseanne Barr: An Awakening in Whitesville
A couple of weeks ago I was in New York City for my son Vince’s graduation from his masters’ program, held at Radio City Music Hall. His sister Jane and I were waiting on the plaza across the street; I was reminiscing geezeresquely about how I used to eat falafels for lunch in this very […]
