Family matters · Parenting

Revisiting Fatherhood Boot Camp This Father’s Day!

[This is one of my wife’s favorites. Originally published in March 2002, and revised for Father’s Day 2013] In honor of Father’s Day, June 16, I’d like to travel back to before I was Autism Dad, when I was just “a new dad.” The moment my son was born, I realized I held the most… Continue reading Revisiting Fatherhood Boot Camp This Father’s Day!

Family matters · Pop Culture & Social Trends

Proud parents await Millennium’s birth

[Being a columnist allows you to chronicle the way your opinion changes (or doesn’t) over time — sometimes drastically and embarrassingly so. Nowhere is this more evident than the column below. In February 1999 I was single, childless and carefree. Compare the column below with the next one I’ll post from 2002, six weeks after… Continue reading Proud parents await Millennium’s birth

Religion & Spirituality · Social trends

Let’s Burn The Dead And Heat Our Homes

According to New York Daily News columnist, Jay Maeder, two high-tech crematoriums in Sweden are piping posthumous candlepower to local energy companies. In short, the bodies of the dead are now heating thousands of Swedish homes. This has caused quite a public uproar in Sweden, a controversy fueled all the more by the fact that… Continue reading Let’s Burn The Dead And Heat Our Homes

On Writing

Waiting For The Great American Cell Phone Novel

Excuse me, I feel a little queasy – I’ve been experiencing keitai shosetsu. What’s keitai shosetsu? A new Asian flu? Not exactly. Keitai shosetsu are “cell phone novels” and they’ve been all the rage in Japan and China for the last decade.  Yeah, novels written on cell phones in tiny, 100-word chunks and delivered in… Continue reading Waiting For The Great American Cell Phone Novel

On Writing

American Culture Becomes Amateur Hour

My last column dealt with the Japanese literary phenomenon of cell phone novels [Rob Note – I’ll post this column next – it’s fascinating!]– novels written on cell phones and distributed directly to other cell phone users. While the cell phone novel is an interesting art form for a number of reasons, I’m concerned that… Continue reading American Culture Becomes Amateur Hour