Within two weeks of being one, my famous last words came back to haunt me (and everyone around me) — If there is one thing you can guarantee to garner a collective groan from an ever more polarized society, it is people talking about their kids. More specifically: people complain about how difficult their parenting journey — which they chose to embark on — has been while simultaneously humbly bragging…

We desperately need airport referees to sort this mess out — The only thing that will put me in a worse mood than an early morning is an early morning flight. While navigating the terminal at five in the morning, you find the worst humanity has to offer. Manners? Out the window. Common courtesy? Forget…

Or at least stay a little drier — I feel a nudge against my shoulder. I’m still ninety percent asleep, so the second prod comes harder — almost punch-like in its ferocity. I jolt awake, slip my eye mask up to my forehead, pull out my earplugs and turn toward my wife. I know what this is about…

Looking to get to know the Danes? Then, this list is for you! — You have finally booked that trip to Denmark. Copenhagen — Europe’s new hipster capital — awaits! You can already smell the cardamom scent working its way out of the bakery, mixing itself with the sea breeze from the Øresund strait onto the cobbled streets of the center, past the crooked…

This past summer I was presented with a rare opportunity to prove myself as a handyman — Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a handyman. I have dreamed about tucking my white t-shirt, with my working man’s triceps bulging out of the sides, into my jeans, enclosed by a work belt carrying my tools with a cowboy buckle. I have strived to hang…

Monarchies still abound in Europe in 2023, and we secretly love it — The street looked blocked off by two large police vans and a couple of motorcycles, but the sidewalk was open, so I proceeded down my usual running route without thinking twice. Upon rounding the corner, I noticed twenty to thirty people crowding the pavement in front of an old building…

A review of The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili — Nobody needs a nearly one-thousand-page epic historical novel in 2023. With purportedly dwindling attention spans, a culture of productivity maximization and people reading less and less, it is senseless — if not outright pretentious — to think anybody would read such a thing. And yet, sometimes a masterpiece works its…

Despite the incessant agony, I keep signing up for marathons — My quadriceps, triceps, and anything with a ‘cep’ is sore. My calves are tight and my lower back is undergoing an existential crisis. Apart from when I have to descend stairs, however, it is not a painful soreness. It is a satisfied discomfort — if such a thing exists. This…

Our holidays to the old country dazed me — Growing up the vast majority of our holidays — like those of many transcontinental immigrants — consisted of ‘going home.’ Going home meant visiting our family in Italy. It meant the beaches in Tuscany, the snow-capped dolomites and the fashion capital Milano. With each…