“Last Name, now!” “What?” My mind raced… I thought quickly… No way this is happening right now… I couldn’t believe I was going to get the complete shit knocked out me, right then and there…. “Last Name, you dirty Jew, what’s your last name?” Shit…..He was so much bigger than me…. What the hell am
A cold Toronto winter in ’02. I was living in a loft on Lansdowne Street with a girlfriend who was pretty, Jewish, and knew in her heart (as I did) that it would never work in the long-term. Money? Not a chance. I was determined to make a living as an actor, which meant racking
“Italo?” I could scarcely believe it was him. Pale, sickly skin and a haunted look in his eyes. Wearing a bright green workout shirt that’s tight around the belly. Flashy sneakers with trailing laces. As a kid, he’d been lean and handsome, with a smirk that proclaimed him to be untouchable. He nods without really seeming
Living with a family member who has schizophrenia is like sitting atop a mountain high in the clouds; you can see normal people far below, but the prospect of joining them seems impossible. From age 10 onwards I’d witnessed my mother withdraw from the world, put on black clothing, answer to different names, and lend
When I think, honestly, about my days as a high schooler, I experience an awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. My God, the embarrassments. Now, I’m proud to say that I’ve made an ass of myself THROUGHOUT my 32 years on this planet. But being a six-foot-plus Bengali bookworm with zero coordination and
