[contextly_auto_sidebar] The polite ones pretend to remember, because they don't want to show they aren't down with your age. "Down with" is their age. And the smart ones know what you're talking about, though their eyes twitch as they grin. Old candy is what we liked when we were young candy. No one warned me not to take candy from strangers because I was a boy. Anyone who passed a piece of fudge into my small, sweaty hand was a friend, whether or not I paid with a Buffalo nickel or Mercury dime. Sweet boys like candy -- though no … [Read more...]
“Dirt Always Wins” — A Story, Part Two
Sterile Technique There’s a curiously moving photo in a 1930s medical handbook put out by Dr. Elliott P. Joslin, who started a clinic in Boston that still specializes in treating diabetics. It shows a sweet Shirley Temple clone, almost 3 years old, the caption says, sitting on a wooden table and injecting her doll-like thigh with a needle and syringe that contains a dose of insulin. (A darling voice muffles an “ouch!”) She’s just a baby, yet she’s her own life-saving nurse. I became diabetic at 7 and almost died because the family doctor … [Read more...]
Salami and Eggs: A Family Tale
Don't Hide the SalamiIn my college-dorm bed, I came upon this passage while first reading Vanity Fair. I was fascinated, puzzled: "Isn't it a good salmi?" she said; "I made it for you, I can make you better dishes than that: and will when you come to see me." Becky Sharp was trying to woo the dull Sir Pitt, even though she was already married. But woo with a homemade, quaintly spelled salami? I read on ... Besides the salmi, which was made of Lord Steyne's pheasants ... Does pheasant go with garlic? Did she make the mustard too? Later, much … [Read more...]