Going home after a long time away is sometimes disorienting.

I touched down at Logan on Friday morning. I immediately set off for Cambridge to see an old friend for lunch. On the way, I mistakenly thought that the Red Line went to Lechmere. I should have gotten off at Park Street and taken a Green Line train northwards, but now I have to get off at Kendall/MIT and walk 15 minutes to the Cambridgeside Galleria. …

I started 2019 with apprehension and excitement.

Most people always begin the new year with plenty of huffing and puffing about all of the things they want to accomplish under the haze of celebration and bravado. They are getting that new job. They will vanquish all of that belly fat with a tough gym regimen and a strict diet. They are going back to school to nourish their minds and get smarter. And so on. Some achieve these goals and then some, others regress or stand still having accomplished nothing.

My goal for 2019 was to get settled in a…

“Give and take. Welcome to Washington.” — Frank Underwood, House of Cards

I never saw Washington as a distinct city, like San Francisco or New York. To me, it is an anonymous concrete cradle for the metonyms that define our nation’s republican ideals and form of government: The White House. The Capitol. The Supreme Court. The city is less visible, disappearing beneath the stature of these grand buildings like a small boat beneath an ocean wave.

When Kevin Spacey (as Frank Underwood) uttered those famous opening lines, “Welcome to Washington,” it was my first time being introduced to Washington at…

The cartoon Rugrats was my first introduction to Judaism. While there are two episodes about Judaism in the show, I remember the episode “Passover” most fondly, because it came first, airing in 1995. The other episode, “Chanukah”, came a year later.

These two episodes also served as some of my earliest exposures to history as well. (“Chanukah” recounts the revolt of the Jews against the Seleucids in the 160s BCE.)

As I grew up, I started reading and learning more about world history. With regards to Jewish history, the next thing I learned about was the Holocaust in fourth grade…

I graduated from high school on June 12th, 2009.

Our graduation ceremony was held in Conte Forum at Boston College in the early afternoon. The warmth of the sunny late spring day was moderated by a gentle, intermittent breeze. My classmates and I all lined up mid-morning, exchanging awkward small talk with each others’ relatives, taking pictures, smiling… Everyone was also decked out in unflattering graduation gowns resembling black trash bags. They were less than dignifying, given the momentous stature of the achievement we were gathered to celebrate that day — graduating from high school for Christ’s sake! …

“It’s not about the place, it’s about the people.”

When I moved from Boston to Washington in January, this little aphorism became a common refrain in my inner monologues, which my mind used to douse the flames of anxiety. Everywhere’s the same. People > place. Make new friends, kick ass at your job, and you will prosper.

It was also my go-to answer when strangers in Washington would ask, “Do you miss Boston at all?”

I would reply, “I don’t miss Boston. But I miss the people.”

But it was a lie. A white lie, one I told to comfort…

A few months ago, the pop singer Poppy released a song entitled “Am I A Girl?” It began with:

I want to be a girl
In all the normal ways
Pose for a photograph
Put on my pretty face
Thank God I’m not a boy
I’d always have to pay
Pretend that I was strong
And never got afraid

“Am I A Girl?” by Poppy

“You should have been a girl, Perry,” my mother said as she served my sister and I dinner one evening in the early 2000s.

I scoffed. “But you got a boy.”

I knew why my…