Where I Go: Jigsaw Puzzles

Whenever I Have Too Much to Think About or Not Enough, I Pull Out a Puzzle    

Like most children of my generation, the first jigsaw puzzle I ever did was likely a plywood map of the United States, divided into 10 or so pieces with little plastic knobs on top. Or it could have been one of several large-pieces-for-little-hands cardboard sets of 100-odd shapes that transformed into Scooby-Doo, or Huey, Dewey, and Louie, or whatever. Perhaps it was one that came in a can—a shtick popular in the 1970s. We always had tons of jigsaw puzzles in the house, so I don’t remember the first ones; …

More In: Where I Go

Where I Go: Peñasquitos Gardens | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: Penasquitos Gardens

Traversing the Gulf Back to a San Diego Apartment

I haven’t brought my wife or son to see where I mostly grew up. I keep meaning to. But even though it’s less than a mile from my father’s condo …

Where I Go: Meeps Vintage | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: Meeps Vintage

Finding Liberation in a D.C. Clothing Shop

Washington, D.C., is a beautiful, tidy town. For the better part of my years there, I was mostly very sad.

It was not a city I thought I’d first move to …

Why Groundhog Day Now Elevates Science Over Superstition

For a UCLA Biologist, Celebrating the Lowly Marmot Could Shed Light on Global Warming

I am a scientist who loves Groundhog Day, that least scientific of holidays. Every February, as Punxsutawney Phil shakes the dust off his coat, emerges from his burrow, glances …

When I Say “Dallas” … You Think “Cowboys!”

How Football Helped the “City of Hate” Recover From JFK's Assassination

Watching my Dallas Cowboys fall to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday on the last play of the game in an instant classic of an NFC Divisional Playoff, I couldn’t …