Category Archives: Personal

What’s Your Narrative?

Posted on 01/03/2019 by paulefallon

Divorced white male, retired from a career in construction industry, spends most days at the gym or taking solitary walks, evenings watching old movies or PBS American Experience. What have we here; a psychopath in training.     Successful architect … Continue reading →

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New Year’s Wish

Posted on 12/27/2018 by paulefallon

In January I watched a man die. I had never witnessed death in real time before. Thus began 2018, my year of gloom. Harry, a longtime friend, drained away before my eyes. His breath crescendoed in torment, until it eased … Continue reading →

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There Goes the Neighborhood

Posted on 12/20/2018 by paulefallon

Change happens continuously. But we humans only notice it episodically. I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for more than 25 years, a few crooked blocks separated from the rest of Cambridge by Route 2. I call it the suburbs of … Continue reading →

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Affirmative Action Admissions

Posted on 11/21/2018 by paulefallon

If you’re interested in what’s happening at Harvard these days (as everyone in Cambridge is) I suggest you read Hua Hsu’s recent article, ‘School Colors: The Fight About Who Gets into the Ivy League,’ in The New Yorker, October 15, … Continue reading →

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Craigslist: For Sale By Owner / Free Stuff

Posted on 11/15/2018 by paulefallon

There are thousands, millions, of ways to describe our world as opposing dualities: ‘Can’t do’ folks versus ‘Can do’ folks; foodies versus refuelers; Patriots fans versus the other 98% of Americans. It’s fun to figure out which camp I occupy … Continue reading →

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The N-word Comes to Emerson

Posted on 10/23/2018 by paulefallon

I’m excited. Invited to ArtsEmerson Play Reading Book Club for The Peculiar Patriot, a one-women show by poet and activist Liza Kessie Peterson. Excitement wavers. The assembled include fourteen middle-aged white women, three grey-haired white men, and a trio of … Continue reading →

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Why are We Here?

Posted on 05/22/2018 by paulefallon

Today, I ask my readers a question. “Why are we here?” As a guy who takes Plato’s advice that ‘an unexamined life is not worth living’ to an extreme that only privileged folk with time on their hands can unspool, … Continue reading →

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The Prodigal Son

Posted on 04/03/2018 by paulefallon

It’s been eight years since I attended a Sunday mass, with my daughter Abby during junior year aboard in Paris. She suggested that we go to mass at Notre Dame, more for the pageant than the message. Still, I was … Continue reading →

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The View from the Nest

Posted on 03/27/2018 by paulefallon

Springtime, and we just finished our move back to Cambridge. Jake and I winter in the Blue Hills. We’re not migratory creatures, but we tell our friends we need serious hibernation, clean away from humans. Truth is, we leave just … Continue reading →

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Three Strikes Against Hillbilly Elegy

Posted on 03/20/2018 by paulefallon

When I read Mitch Dunier’s Sidewalk I am filled with empathy for black men, often drug users, living on the street. When I read The New Jim Crow, I seethe over the injustice of systematically containing their imprisoned brothers. When … Continue reading →

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