Routeburn Track, New Zealand Maybe it’s because our father loved mountains — and hiking — that I do, too. Growing up in a national park probably helped. You can climb Hot Springs Mountain from right behind the Fordyce Bathhouse on Central Avenue. On some Sundays, we’d take the scenic drive…

Part 3 Mont Blanc is the grandest hike I’ve ever taken. But it’s the memories of our all being together on it that I most cherish. There is no companionship quite like the companionship of a long hike. Looking out for one another. Having a good talk first with one…

Part 2 What is it that draws us to the long, hard hikes? Some of it is testing yourself against the difficulty. Some of it is knowing that, the deeper in you go, the more the wildness envelops you, the more dramatic the beauty, the greater the chance of encountering…

Part 1 Maybe it’s because our father loved mountains — and hiking — that I do, too. Growing up in a national park probably helped. You can climb Hot Springs Mountain from right behind the Fordyce Bathhouse on Central Avenue. On some Sundays, we’d take the scenic drive home over…

It’s too late now for Chuck Grassley to redeem his career in public service by acknowledging that it’s way past time he left office. And that’s a real shame. Because Senator Grassley served so honorably for so long. I’ll never forget meeting Grassley when I moved to Iowa in 1981…

Journal entries and correspondence from 2020: Covid to lung surgery to chemo, Trump to BLM to Biden. A singular year for us all. Part 1 Sunday March 15, 2020 One by one, they’ve left the calendar: the Lehman Trilogy, Tribeca Film Festival (Nell and Ben’s Christmas present), breakfasts and lunches with friends…

Part 6 (final) August 16, 2020 Hah!! Left every single damned XF#@*-ing tube and tether and wire and attachment at the hospital. EVERY ONE!! I am now astonished to WALK FREELY to the potty. Who knew what an underappreciated basic right that was? To leave behind you endless hours of quaking in bed…

Part 5 Self-portrait, just before lung needle biopsy, sent to reassure David, who couldn’t come with me to Mt. Sinai. July 6, 2020 Plague notes update Needle biopsy on lung — terrifying, but over with. Heading to Princeton Tuesday. …

Part 4 June 6, 2020 Email to friends: I got back from St. Luke’s today after an emergency appendectomy late last night. Thought I had a stomach flu, but man it got painful! (duh). I went to City MD around 2 pm, and they sent me straight to the hospital. St. Luke’s…