On May 5, 2008, my father took me downtown to a show we didn’t see.  It’s complicated to explain why I remember that date so exactly. It has a little bit to do with pebbles in a landslide and a little bit to do with the color of light when it passes up through the spider-web latticework of waves in a pool. I think if it wasn’t for the color of that light, I might not remember May 5, 2008 at all, which suggests the awful probability that many of the things that happened on that day happened quite regularly, [...]

Let’s start with the obvious: Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine for reasons that don’t make sense to anyone—including most Russians, it seems. It’s been truly difficult to follow the news, and I don’t even have any particular personal connection to the conflict. It seems to me that the most important thing people in the West can do right now is offer financial support for what is already an enormous refugee crisis. I never like promoting one charity over another, but I found this list, highlighted by Stephen Colbert on his show last night, really informative:  [...]