When a young woman asked my son to the girl’s choice dance and he didn’t accept immediately, I offered some fatherly advice. “Are you nuts? What if she changes her mind? Call her back right now and say you’ll go!” “That wouldn’t be creative Dad,” he said in a not-quite-patient tone. It’s the same [...]

  My children have always believed in magic. When they were little they were big fans of the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Now it’s the Toilet Paper Fairy, the Laundry Bunny and … well … Santa still makes the top three so long as he comes through with the goods. If [...]

  For the past two years I’ve attended the Sundance Film Festival. It’s not as glamorous as you might think, but then again I’ve never attended the part you’ve seen on TV. When you watch reports from Sundance, you’re seeing Park City, Utah. It started as an silver town founded by miners with a fondness [...]

  I follow a simple rule for safe living; never enter a home where I have performed any maintenance work on the plumbing or electrical systems. When it comes to home repairs I am the very model of unskilled labor. This isn’t an inherited trait. Given any domestic mechanical problem, my father can work miracles. [...]