CHAPTER 1
The Flame of Tar Valon
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass leaving memories that become legend, then fade to myth, and are long forgot when that Age comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Dhoom. The wind was not the beginni

I taught myself how to read and write again during those last two weeks of summer with my new mother, Ruth Day. She was determined to keep me inside or within earshot or in her line of vision, and I happily obliged her. Reading, of course, is merely associating symbols with sounds, memorizing the combinations, rules and effects, and, most import

I am gone.
This is not a fairy tale, but the true history of my double life, left behind where it all began, in case I may be found again.
My own story begins when I was a boy of seven, free of my current desires. Nearly thirty years ago, on an August afternoon, I ran away from home and never made it back. Certain trivial and for

Don't call me a fairy. We don't like to be called fairies anymore. Once upon a time, fairy was a perfectly acceptable catchall for a variety of creatures, but now it has taken on too many associations. Etymologically speaking, a fairy is something quite particular, related in kind to the na­iads, or water nymphs, and while of the genus, we a

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. If we didn't see some rain soon, we would lose everything. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own

"Looking at a king's mouth," said an old man, "one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast." He was talking about Okonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of the clan. The old man bore no ill will towards Okonkwo. Indeed he respected him

Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit. The story was told in Umuofia, of how his father, Unoka, had gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest.

Okonkwo had just blown out the palm-oil lamp and stretched himself on his bamboo bed when he heard the ogene of the town crier piercing the still night air. Gome, gome, gome, gome, boomed the hollow metal. Then the crier gave his message, and at the end of it beat his instrument again. And this was the

CHAPTER ONE
Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Am

谁暗杀了林肯
"Who killed Abraham Lincoln*?" the teacher asked her
seventh-graders**.  Everyone but John raised a hand

Love, Park Avenue Style
I press down the backspace button and watch as my fifth attempt at a topic sentence deletes itself letter by letter. Jean Piaget... what to say, what to say?
I slouch back, rolling my neck on the top of the chair, and stare out at the gray clouds drifting slowly above the roofs of the brown-stones across t

"Grandma's been looking all over for you so we can cut the cake," I say, stepping into my grandmother's dressing room, where my father has found respite from the joint New Year's Eve/Fiftieth Birthday Party she insisted on throwing for the "one son God blessed her with."
"Quick, close the door! I'm not ready yet-too many of those people out th

Holiday Cheer at $10  an Hour
I turn the key and lean into the Xes' heavy front door, as has become my habit, but it only swings open a foot before getting stuck.
"Huh," I say.
"Huh," Grayer echoes behind me.
"Something's blocking the door," I explain as I reach my arm around and begin to grope blindly to ide

Night of the Bankin
After picking up some small pumpkins to decorate on the way home from school, Grayer and I return to the apartment just in time for me to sign an invoice for over four thousand dollars. Grayer and I follow in awe as a deliveryman wheels a pair of six-foot wooden crates through the kitchen and deposits them in the front hal

Multitasking
Nanny,
      While you're on your play date with Alex today, please ask Alex's mother who catered her last dinner - tell her I thought  Cajun - infused Asian was a stroke of genius.
Just to let you know, the parents are DIVORCING.  So sad.  Please make sure Grayer doesn't s