Scott Lax

 

Here's a shout out to the Chagrin Falls High School Class of 1970, and a thank you to Jackie and the others who gave us a "Daddy's Little Tiger" onesie last summer. Finn's a tall baby, so at six and a half weeks, he's already able to wear it (it's for-one-year-olds). He'll be able to wear it for quite a while. We put this on him after his bath. Thanks, guys, and here's to the CFHS Class of 1970, and Finn's graduating class of '29. (That's 2029, folks.) Read More 

Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.
-- Willa Cather

Unless you have a baby. Then you have the most inspiring material under the sun.
-- Scott Lax

...But baby I love you.

"If you ask me what I have come to do in the world, I who am an artist, I will reply: 'I am here to live aloud.'" - Emile Zola

I usually post articles I like to the bottom left of this blog, on my (partial) reading list. But there is a piece I strongly recommend, as I couldn't agree more with it, and have written about it, but not as well as the author of this article. It's "FED UP: Gluttony Dressed Up As Foodie-ism is Still Gluttony," by B.R. Myers, in The Atlantic Monthly. It's an excellent piece.

Along with the fetishistic American foodie culture (if you don't know what I mean just Google "food blogs" or watch Anthony Bourdain do his faux-macho routine on television program), there are nearly one billion hungry people in this world; about half of them are children.

So next time "Tony" berates food lovers for not eating a bat, or whatever some foreign cook throws his gluttonous way, consider that maybe we've gone a tad too far in the wrong direction. That the late Julia Child's honest charm, gratiousness and passion for food or Jamie Oliver's concern for children's health might be a better way to approach food than the excess the modern foodies foist on the culture.

I like food. I like wine, in moderation. I think cooking shows are terrific for many. But it's gone too far. Anyway, read this article if you can (sorry you can't click the link; you can cut and paste it): http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/the-moral-crusade-against-foodies/8370/ Read More 

If Finn could speak, I think he might say to the people of Egypt, "Let freedom ring - hear me roar." (That's what his outfit says, "Hear me roar.")

You have roared peacefully. We're all with you, people of Egypt. You have done this for yourselves and for your children. I applaud you; virtually all Americans applaud you. Freedom is a beautiful thing and what every man, women and child deserves.  Read More 

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers, my second favorite team in pro football. Great team, fantastic part of America.

Finn wore the first outfit I ever bought for him, way back in the summertime, long before he was born. For my readers in other countries: brown and orange are the Cleveland Browns colors. His little outfit says, "Future Quarterback." As a protective father, I'll be happy if he plays touch or flag football. As for the Browns, I hope they reach the Super Bowl before Finn is my age. I was 12 when they won their last championship...in 1964. I was there, at Cleveland Stadium, with my dad. Read More 

"You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth."
-- Kahlil Gibran (1883-1963)  Read More 

Our dear friend, Ann Hood, knitted a hat for Finn. He seems to love it beyond belief, and has been wearing it all morning.

Ann Hood is the best-selling author of THE KNITTING CIRCLE, THE RED THREAD, SOMEWHERE OFF THE COAST OF MAINE, COMFORT, and other wonderful works of fiction and nonfiction. If you haven't read her books, short stories or essays (most recently a series in The New York Times), you should - her voice is one of a kind.

Thank you, Ann - you do so much for so many.

P.S. The hat goes perfectly with Finn's cloth diaper (there are lime-green stripes on the hat). Read More 

"To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons."

- Marilyn French, Novelist and Feminist leader