“You Are Not Cute and This Is Not Funny”
Blogging for the New York Times
In 2012, I finally achieved a life-long writing goal when I was recruited to write for the New York Times.
For two years, I wrote a monthly essay for “Booming,” a blog on the Times website written by and about Baby Boomers.
My first essay, “I’m Not Getting Any Better,”was about my decision, at age 58, to stop trying to improve myself. “I won’t take up yoga,” I wrote. “I won’t be lifting any weights. I will do nothing to strengthen my core. I’m not even going to learn where my core is. I’m a swimmer, and I walk the Yorkie-poo every day. That will have to do.”
I also announced that I’d made my peace with the fact that I would never return to the piano or read Middlemarch.
“‘Glib and cutesy’
When my Times editor informed me that my humor piece had been chosen to run on the very first day of “Booming,” I was elated. I was even more thrilled when my essay received more than 100 comments.
Then I actually read a few.
They were intelligent and articulate — just what you’d expect from New York Times readers. And most were positive. Not only that, but number of the responses to my humor piece were pretty funny themselves.
