Image credit: “Another "Neighbor” by Usonian is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 There's a Korean folktale about a young frog who never listens to his mother, always doing the opposite of what he's told. Then his mother falls ill and before she dies, knowing her son, she asks him to bury her by the river … Continue reading Welcome to Contrary Frog
Some movies I watched over Thanksgiving break
It was a truly leisurely break. No travel, no guests, just the four of us sleeping in, eating good food, socializing a little bit. The weather turned cold, which further encouraged my indoor cat tendencies. I made good progress on my always growing pile of New Yorkers, read articles online, ate many snacks, went to … Continue reading Some movies I watched over Thanksgiving break
The exhortations of Andor
[warning: some spoilers ahead] After my family and I finished watching Season 2 of Andor, the Star Wars series about the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin as featured in the prequel movie Rogue One, I rewatched Season 1 on my own over a series of days while folding laundry. Even though I … Continue reading The exhortations of Andor
AI for effort
I don’t really want to read another article about how generative AI is changing everything. But I do read many of them out of a sense of obligation. Working in higher education, overseeing several academic programs, I feel I would not be doing my job if I wasn’t at least familiarizing myself with the discourse … Continue reading AI for effort
goodbye, friend
At first the words confused me. I had glanced at my phone as we were waiting to pay and leave the restaurant, and wondered why my friend Dave was posting about himself in the third person until the meaning of the words sank in: “great sadness,” “passing of my brother…” “Oh, no” I blurted out. … Continue reading goodbye, friend
I will always miss L.A.
After college, I spent most of the ‘90s in California, eight years in Southern California, five of them in Los Angeles. I’ve only been back a handful of times in the past 25 years since my husband and I left to come back east for jobs in 2000. The photographs and videos of the wild … Continue reading I will always miss L.A.
The language of birds and comparative death studies
What does the natural world care about elections and other human activities that feel so consequential to us? Two recent New Yorker articles about animals captivated me; they hit on similar themes that, each in their own way, remind us that we are not as special as we like to think. In “Pecking Order: Language … Continue reading The language of birds and comparative death studies
Watching the detectives
After we finished the sitcom “Kim’s Convenience,” my 12-yo and I started watching “Brooklyn 99,” which first aired in 2013. Looking for another show we could enjoy together, I suggested it not only because I remember hearing good reviews, but because I clicked on a clip of the show’s final episode that appeared in my … Continue reading Watching the detectives
Olympic tears
I didn’t get to watch as much of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games as I would have liked, but I watched more than I have in the past couple of decades. I don’t follow any particular sport regularly, but one of the things I love about the Olympics is that you get to watch … Continue reading Olympic tears
American city – notes from a road trip
Over the years, we’ve visited a handful of midwestern cities from our home outside of Chicago. This year, we had one week in between my younger kid’s two summer camps, so we decided to visit Minneapolis-Saint Paul. A six-hour drive mostly on I-90, it was far enough to feel like we were getting away and … Continue reading American city – notes from a road trip
Practical
I’m a very casual gardener, and when a pest eats a seedling I’d just planted or when the lettuce seeds I sowed never sprout because of heavy rains, I think, “thank the gods I don’t need to actually grow enough food to feed us.” My thoughts wander: what practical skills do I have that would … Continue reading Practical
Contrary Frog 