Jeff Likes to Tell Stories

Welcome to my blog. I haven’t kept up with it in a while. But I hope to get back to writing the types of stories you’ll find here. If my life was a sitcom, these might be considered scripts for the show. I write about my life, my interactions with my family and those strangers I encounter on a daily basis. My more serious writing can be found in various places. But I often post them on Medium.

Artistic Tendencies / 31.12.2014

At the end of last year I posted my Top Ten (+6) Photographs from 2013. With a trip to China, I had lots of images to choose from. There were some momentous events this year as well, perhaps not as monumental as taking our girls back to China to see where they came from. But, still they were worth contemplating as the year ends and a new year begins. Like last year, I couldn't narrow it down to just ten. As last year, choosing my top photographs and putting them in order was a difficult task. I liked each one...

Fairly Odd Parents-Past, Professional Auteurism / 28.12.2014

I don't know what happened to Antonio Bay tonight. Something came out of the fog and tried to destroy us. In one moment, it vanished. But if this has been anything but a nightmare, and if we don't wake up to find ourselves safe in our beds, it could come again. To the ships at sea who can hear my voice, look across the water, into the darkness. Look for the fog. —John Carpenter's The Fog I've had two careers in my life: teacher...

Barely Socially Acceptable, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Professional Auteurism / 21.08.2014

I talk to strangers in elevators. But not just to any stranger. I pick and choose, depending on the elevator, the mix of people, and, of course, if I have anything to say. Our time together is short and there must be some connection to our shared experience riding up or down. Not quite an elevator pitch, but a close relative. Timing is everything. It might be Monday morning. No eager beavers on Monday morning. "Thank God it's Friday," I might say. I'm often the warm up act for the week. And, if I'm lucky, I'll get a chuckle. Out of...

Fairly Odd Parents-Past / 08.06.2014

Like many Eastern European Jews, my paternal grandparents emigrated from the Russia in the early 20th century. But not all of my family left for the States. And, I suppose you could say they were saved from the atrocities of the Nazis because they lived under the atrocities of Stalin. But, interestingly, my great Uncle Louie ("Unkie") went back for a visit around 1931, when this photo of him and some of his brothers and his sister was taken (my grandmother Bessie, Louie's sister, and another sister, Margaret stayed here). This is...

Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 12.05.2014

Two seemingly unrelated events: [caption id="attachment_3967" align="alignright" width="350"] Esquire backs me up on this one and even provides a simple way to remember which button to button.[/caption] A funny thing happened in the elevator at work the other day. I had just gotten my coffee from the Starbucks across the street and was taking the lift up to my office. I shared the elevator with another guy and we were getting off on the same floor. Suddenly, he asked "Jeff, you seem the right person to ask. Is it one button or two?" as he demonstrated on his sport coat. I hesitated for...

Artistic Tendencies, News Outta My Control / 07.02.2014

For its 10th anniversary Facebook created a short video for every one of its users, taking a look back at their favorite posts and photographs. "A Look Back," these minute videos, started showing up on everyone's stream as people shared them. The music was intentionally inspirational; the sentimentality was obvious. People either loved or hated them and a backlash shortly ensued. Of course, this made it ripe for parody and I never turn down an opportunity, especially when I can also make a powerful statement. So, what if this remembrance, a look back, was made for the Republican Party? Here's...

Fairly Odd Parents-Past, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations / 19.01.2014

I'm not a sports junky. In fact, I'm worse. I'm a fair-weather sports fan filed under the subcategory "College Sports/Only Schools I Went To." And that means just football and basketball. So, I follow two schools, both my alma maters: Michigan State, where I got my undergraduate degree and UCLA where I got my MFA. Oh, and as a fallback, I will sometimes follow the University of Maryland just because I live in Maryland...

Artistic Tendencies, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 26.12.2013

Photographically, this was a wonderful year for me. I found myself in all sorts of interesting places and situations. And the best souvenir of an experience is either a story or a photograph. The best is when I get both. Yesterday, I began to contemplate the end of 2013. And I started to grimace at all the end-of-year lists of which we were about to be inundated. Suddenly, I thought the best way to combat the nostalgia those lists always bring out in me would be to put together one of my own. So here are my top ten photographs from...

Fairly Odd Parents-Present, News Outta My Control / 27.10.2013

What becomes a legend most? I have no idea. I'm not the legend type. But, earlier this week I received my first fan letter. I have had a few brushes with fame—by now, perhaps an hour's worth. But, as always these strange encounters come in fits and spurts and without fanfare I quickly recede back with the rest of humanity. [caption id="attachment_4004" align="alignright" width="350"] My Swiss Media Debut: Il Caffè (Click image for larger picture and, if you can read Italian, see how this government shutdown played in Europe.)[/caption] Recently, as many of you know, I became the de facto poster boy...

News Outta My Control / 20.10.2013

For over two weeks the GOP closed the government in an effort to derail the Affordable Care Act. Except for the Republicans' radical Right (yes, Ted Cruz, I'm talking to you and your lemmings), no one disputes how destructive this was to American's confidence in our government. If you listen carefully, even George Will is moaning. What we could have done with the $24,000,000,000 of taxpayers' money they wasted just to make their ideological point. In the end, the citizens and more moderate legislators resoundingly rejected the Radical Right's antics. They gained absolutely nothing but disdain. So, what's a furloughed government...