Jan 28, 2022Ten years after a terrible loss, a digital smile yields a moment of graceTen years after a terrible loss, a digital smile yields a moment of grace January 28, 2022 My friend Claudia recently sent me a copy of what I believe to be the last photograph taken of my wife, Barbara Karkabi, before her death 10 years ago today. Barbara is one…Grief4 min readGrief4 min read
Nov 16, 2021After 41 years, a task completed yields a sense of reconnectionOur guide squinted, trying to make out the names scrawled on the diagram she held as we followed her across the grassy expanse of Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas. “Smith,” she muttered. “Moore. Gonzalez.” She came to a strip of grass where no marker stood, checked the adjoining…Childhood Memories7 min readChildhood Memories7 min read
Dec 24, 2020The promise, and the mystery, of Christmas in quarantineOnce upon a time it was childish excitement, rather than grown-up anxiety, that kept me awake on the nights leading to December 25. I was puzzled when I heard the adults in my life remark that they were struggling to acquire the “Christmas spirit.” Why, I wondered, would this ever…Christmas6 min readChristmas6 min read
Sep 3, 2020Norman: A belated elegyAs a warm spring gave way to a hot summer in 1977, the bodies of two 23-year-old men — one Latino, one Black — were fished from the muddy waterways that define Houston’s landscape and inspire its “Bayou City” nickname. The first was José Campos Torres, a name familiar to…Race18 min readRace18 min read
May 27, 2020Two jackets. Two journeys.I clipped the leash to the dog’s harness and followed her to the door before remembering that it was a cool evening. Teeny, a 4-pound Chihuahua, strained toward her freedom, but I dragged her back a few steps to snag my jacket off the back of a chair. It’s my…Travel7 min readTravel7 min read
May 7, 2020Life in limbo, then and nowIn the wee hours of a winter morning in 1997, I lay on my living room sofa, not sleeping. I had moved from the bed I shared with my wife, imagining desperately that lying in a different spot might ease my restlessness. It didn’t work. I was gripped by anxiety…Coronavirus5 min readCoronavirus5 min read
Apr 1, 2020A love letter to journalists covering the coronavirusFive months after retiring from daily journalism, I’m sitting on the sidelines as my former colleagues hurl themselves into the story of a lifetime. Journalists in Houston and elsewhere — co-workers and competitors, reporters and photographers, artists and editors and web producers — are performing heroically as the new coronavirus…4 min read4 min read
Mar 23, 2020A deadly virus has me in its sights. I’m trying to duck.Day after day of solitude leads the mind in strange directions. As I prepared for bed the other night, it struck me that a public health class might benefit from studying me as a model of vulnerability to the new coronavirus. I can check off all the boxes: I’m 65…Coronavirus5 min readCoronavirus5 min read
Feb 18, 2020A dream. A disagreement. A death.I steered the car along a winding country road that gradually became narrower and more rutted. Beside me sat an older man, a tall fellow with fussy mannerisms and a faint thatch of white hair. The man might have been English. The road might have been dirt or gravel. These…Dreams3 min readDreams3 min read
Feb 3, 2020Lacing up the Silver SneakersI stood behind a straight-back chair, my arms hanging loosely at my sides. I wore gray sweatpants, a black T-shirt and well-worn Nikes. …Aging4 min readAging4 min read
