Musings from my driveway, my home and my heart
I’ve come across a heartbreaking trend among my students who are applying this fall to prestigious colleges and universities. Many of them have stunning achievements, including perfect scores on standardized tests, hundreds of hours in volunteer work and leadership positions on winning sports teams. Their credentials include self-publishing books, rising to the top in national... Continue Reading →
Several years ago, an Audi executive told me he wanted to recruit the British musician Sting as the company spokesman. “He’s older, but he’s how I want to age,” the executive said. “He’s not sitting in a rocking chair, he’s racing around Aspen in some hot car on his way to the slopes.” I thought... Continue Reading →
When I was growing up in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s, there were 232 bars in my grandma’s neighborhood, a mainly Polish area in the city’s sixth police precinct. It’s no wonder that a river of booze ran through my family and the community. When I rode my pink Schwinn bike through the neighborhood... Continue Reading →
I consider myself fortunate because I hate chocolate and love minivans. After spending a week in the redesigned 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite minivan, I found that I’m in the minority among my girlfriends — and not just when it comes to Dove bars and other sweets. My odyssey in the Odyssey took me from the... Continue Reading →
An anxious parent called me from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last week to discuss his child’s Common Application essay for college. Among the concerns: How could his child compete against clever minority applicants, including the one who submitted an essay to Stanford in response to the question, “What matters to you,... Continue Reading →
Someone recently asked if my grandfather, who ran a Detroit bar for 60 years, was more like the affable Sam Malone from the TV show Cheers or Moe Szyslak, the bartender from The Simpsons who was known for his bad temper and suicidal attempts. Neither. In fact, he was more like Holly Golightly in Breakfast... Continue Reading →
NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan – There’s a different take on the speed trap in my neighborhood. We call it “the sunflower trap” and it’s not about getting a ticket from the cops for having a lead foot. It’s about slamming on the brakes and impeding traffic as you come off of the highway and encounter what... Continue Reading →
My siblings and I watched the Three Stooges and the Adventures of Superman on Saturdays under the doleful gaze of a 20-inch statue of the Infant of Prague in my grandmother’s living room at 5207 St. Lawrence Street in Detroit. The Infant, a copy of a revered 16th century statue in the Czech capital, always... Continue Reading →
On a two-lane country road not far from my house stands a stark and simple reminder of how desperately the world needs self-driving cars. It’s a “ghost bike” that’s spray-painted white and nestled among the tall grass and wildflowers. A sign hanging from the bike says it was “placed in tribute to a bicyclist killed... Continue Reading →
So macho is my father that he once removed an ingrown toenail with a hand-held drill. My brother Mike and I watched him use his fists to break up trouble at places like the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit or at Little League playgrounds in our northwest neighborhood during the 1960s. As a cop, he... Continue Reading →
Anita's Way 