Author Archives: Matthew Arnold Stern
Sacrifice and “The Gift of the Magi”
We all know the O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi.” So, I’m not giving away any spoilers by telling you that it’s about the young wife who sells her hair to buy a chain for her husband’s pocket watch, only to find that he sold his pocket watch to buy combs for her …
Gratitude when you’ve lost everything
This has been a hard year for many people I know. I have friends who were forced out of their homes during the recent California fires. A coworker of a high school friend was killed at the Borderline shooting in Thousand Oaks. I’ve been in touch with people who lost friends at Stoneman Douglas. A …
Write anyway
I started on my NaNoWriMo project, but life, as it often does, has other ideas. I already knew I would have hernia surgery later this month. And then, we got a call from our Registrar of Voters asking for volunteers to be poll workers. They are expecting a large turnout for these midterms, even bigger than …
Memento mori
Recently, Manuel Oliver presented a 3-D printed statue of his son Joaquin at Times Square. I’ve talked about Stoneman Douglas before on this site. But this particular story says something about how we view death — and how we value life. It’s important we look at this, especially with all that has happened in the …
Elections and hernias
By now, you’ve heard plenty of people (including myself) tell you how crucial these midterm elections are and how important it is for you to come out and vote. If you are still unconvinced, let me tell you about my hernia.
