Blog

  • Short Story Review: “Something Familiar” by Mary Gaitskill

    (The short story “Something Familiar” by Mary Gaitskill appeared in the March 2nd, 2026 issue of The New Yorker.)

    Photograph by Billy Dinh for The New Yorker

    “Something Familiar” by Mary Gaitskill is one of those short stories that feels like it’s from another time, like the 70’s or 80’s. A contemporary set story, but the setting, a late-night taxi ride with two strangers conversing, feels quaint, and even a little nostalgic. And I do think that this choice was deliberate, as the story also involves these two people reflecting on the life they lead back in the 80’s.

    Overly Simplified Synopsis: A taxi drive and his passenger converse with each other, which causes both to reflect on their lives. Also, there is a possibility that they shared an important moment with each other, though they aren’t aware of this coincidence.

    This is a competent story. The characters feel lived in, and make decision on how they present themselves to the others. Perhaps it is a coincidence that these two people find each other in a cab, and I wouldn’t disparage a story using coincidence as a plot device, though I did enjoy that Gaitskill never fully says that these two people met before, which keeps the story feeling tactfully undefined – rough on the edges. I also appreciated how, when the two characters split up and go their separate ways, the woman has someone in her life she can be open and honest with, while the man lives a life in a lie with some regret added on top.

    Yet, it never felt like this story went anywhere, or progressed in some way. The characters are the same from start to finish. They do reflect on their past, but that reflection doesn’t lead to growth in the present setting of the story, which leaves the piece in a sort of unfulfilled status bubble.

    Things happen, yet nothing happens, making the story feel incomplete and unresolved.

  • Earworm Wednesday: If You Look Past the Haircut and the Butterfly Collar, This Song is Awesome!

    As a kid from the 80’s and a teenager in the 90’s, any song that slightly resembled 70’s disco or adult contempory music was just the worst. And for that reason, this song got thrown onto my own personal dustbin of awful music.

    I can now admit that was a mistake when it comes to Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin.’” This song has a way better grove and flow to it than I gave it credit for. (I mean, Warren G did sample the hell out of it for “Regulate.”) The part that gets stuck in my head is just the first line of the song, and the way McDonald just breaks up the words; a little in front, then behind the beat.

    The video is cheesy as hell, though. If you like teased and feathered hair; than have I got a video for you!

  • Snow Fatigue

    I don’t know if that is a real thing, but I am going to chalk up all of my feeling of exhaustion and the sore right elbow that I have to “snow fatigue.”

    Yes, I shoveled our car out of the snow once the blizzard let up. I took the kid with me, but she was only into cleaning the car off for about fifteen minutes. After that, she just wanted to play in the snow. Don’t blame her, I still like playing in the snow.

    After cleaning off the car, we went to the local park and did some sledding. We have a two-seater sled, which we are rather good at. Yet, for some reason yesterday, we just kept heading toward the trees and bushes, or we were tumbling down in the hill. Not that it really mattered, we were having a good time. We even got in a snowball fight; as you do.

    This morning, when I woke up, I was sore. Sore in my elbow, neck, and knees. Add on top of that is the feeling of continual fatigue. I got almost all of my chores done, yet I can’t shake the feeling that if I sit down, I will fall asleep. In fact, I’m having the toughest time staying awake as I write this. I just want to go to bed.

    Making it hard to focus.

    Making hard to get anything done.

    Making it hard in general to generally do anything.

    Again, I blame the snow.

  • Snow Day, Again!

    My fire escape this morning.

    Taking it easy today. Might have to stay in pajamas and read. Kid is home from school so there could be board games as well. Naps and sledding seem likely, as well as an attempt at a dog walk coupled with digging out the car.

  • ODDS and ENDS: It’s Raining, Music, and Nabemono

    ODDS and ENDS: It’s Raining, Music, and Nabemono

    (I’m in a hurry, gotta go…)

    First of all, I had to move the car today as Alt Side Parking is back in effect in NYC. I haven’t had to move my car for almost three weeks due to the snow that changed to ice. But after a week of the temp being above freezing, and the ice mainly having melted, the City said we had to move our cars for the sweepers. I’m cool with that, as the trash and dog poo has been piling up. What I wasn’t expecting was that it would be raining today, which, sure, helps with melting the ice, but also makes it rather raw outside in 38 degrees. I did it, moved the car that is, but also it made me have my first moment of looking forward to Spring.

    I have two new, to me, music discoveries; Mapache, and Labi Siffre.

    The other thing that has entered my life this week is that I have a correct nabe pot. (Which is a funny thing to write as “nabe” is Japanese for “pot” so I have been saying “pot pot”.) This has been a long time coming as I have mentioned, about a year ago, that I was looking to start doing some hot pot cooking. Well, we started it, and it has gone over rather well. We’ve done a little shabu-shabu, and last night we tried our hand at mizutaki. I can say that it has been some of the healthier eating we have done, and the kid just loves it. The downside is that we started doing this cooking late in Winter, so we don’t have too many cold nights left to gather around the nabe pot.