Once upon a park in summer (2002-08-24)
Something about the late afternoon light called to me. The molten rays streaming through the western windows of our nearly empty house beckoned me to the park on the corner. So I stop packing for our eminent move West and called to Shiloh. She grabbed her scooter and we headed for the playground. The smoky-sweet charcoal-meat smells of a barbecue greeted us as we headed through the park gate. The shouts, staccato ball-beats and basket-slam twangs of a pick-up b-ball game thudded in the fenced-in courts. I tried again to teach Shiloh how to pump her small legs to get herself going on the creaky swings. We decided it was more fun to swing together, Shiloh in my lap. We swung until my legs got shaky. Next we played dinosaurs. “Pretend I’m taller and my neck is long,” Shiloh instructed as we clambered over the top of the monkey bars for the fourth time, making our way across the imagined river below. We got dirty--that kind-of-sweaty, swing-set-grease-sticky feeling. It felt good. Like being a kid. Dusk made its way into the park. The crickets and cicadas caught this cue and started their sawing songs. We balanced on the roots of looming oak trees, leaping from one to another without touching ground—a final game before we left for home. A faint breeze blew through the gray moss overhead and cooled my damp forehead. I love summer sundown, before the bustle of shorter days to come. And I love my daughter, who reminds me to play while the days are long.

Write to rock the web (2002-08-19)
This column by Mark Bernstein offers words of wisdom on writing for the Web.

Welfare and teens (2002-08-08)
A recent research report reveals how Welfare policies affect teens. The findings indicate that parents participating in Welfare programs reported worse school performance, a higher rate of grade repetition, and more use of special educational services among their teen children than parents not on Welfare.