Ok, buckle up; this is a long one. Here are but some of my thoughts on the recent release of the groundbreaking documentary about the Beatles in their final days, “Get Back.” Spoiler alerts ahead, BTW. First off, if you’re a casual fan of the band, if you watch this 8 1/2 hour Odyssey, I’d … More What The “Get Back” Documentary Taught Me About The Nature of Creativity and Friendship

“You make it look so easy.” “Could you tell us another piece of trivia?” “Eyes were bigger than your stomach, eh?” “What should I invest in?” “But you dance so beautifully!” “You have a mind like Aristotle’s, only funnier” “Please, just ONE more song!” “Your eyes…I can’t describe them precisely, but have you ever been … More Things No One Has Ever Said To Me

By Jack Canfora The president of Netflix (I didn’t even know they had a president; I thought they were a constitutional monarchy) once said, “Our competition isn’t the other streaming platforms; our competition is sleep.” Which, when I read that, really crystallized for me something about how we live. So many of us have become … More I Hope This Will Bore You (And Frankly, I Like My Chances)

By Jack Canfora Trigger Warning: this post has no content. Not literally, obviously. I mean, the very words “this post has no content” proves that there IS content. I mean, there’s nothing in this post in terms of, well, anything. It’s a blank canvass, minus the blankness and the canvass. This piece is pure Zen, … More Nothing Is Good (In a Good Way)

By Jack Canfora The title of this post is but one example of why I’m not as good a songwriter as Lennon and McCartney. It’s hard to hum along to that title. Oh well, I have qualities they don’t. Debt, for instance. Anyway, I’d caution you to take a step or two back, as I’m … More Love Is The Bulk of What You Need

By Jack Canfora This evening, I will have a (virtual) table read of a new play of mine. I think it has promise, but for me, and I think I’m not alone in this among playwrights, until I hear it out loud, I can’t be sure. Reading it is different from hearing. Unlike, say, novels … More What’s the Point?

By Jack Canfora I’ll start with a confession. I don’t really know if this is summer’s last hurrah. I haven’t heard it hurrah at all so far, at least I think I haven’t, but in another confession, I’ve never really heard anyone use hurrah in an unironic fashion, and basing what it would sound like … More Summer’s Last Hurrah

By Jack Canfora look In my younger and (seemingly) more vulnerable years as a parent, I had assumed that taking care of a child through their infancy and youth would be the most demanding part of parenting. I certainly expected some bumps in adolescence and in between, but I felt confident there would reach a … More Parenting: What (Little) I’ve Learned

George Washington didn’t engage in insipid debates with those who confuse the idea of freedom with utter self-absorption. … More George Washington: Enemy of Freedom

By Jack Canfora So, fans of calendars will know July 4th is fast approaching, or as we Americans refer to it, July 4th. Or Independence Day, if we’re feeling formal, or referring to the Will Smith/Jeff Goldblum blockbuster from the 90s. I’ve always been a little iffy about this holiday, although I do have a … More Baby, We’re A Firework

By Jack Canfora “Do you always wait for the longest day of the summer and then miss it?” asked Daisy Buchanan. “We should do something,” American literature’s shallowest character continues, before asking, “What do people do?” It’s a fair question. We’re heading into perhaps the most eagerly awaited summer of many of our lives. A … More It’s Summertime, And The Living Is Marginally Easier

By Jack Canfora I’ve had pneumonia the last week or so (who gets pneumonia in June? I feel like I’m in a Eugene O’Neil play). I’m basically fine now, but the outpouring of thoughts, cards, money orders, and prayers was quite touching, not to mention the benefit concert, which was simply remarkable. That Bono really … More FYI: The Internet Is Sometimes Mean

By Jack Canfora I’ve always felt odd wishing people a Happy Memorial Day. After all, it’s a day honoring the war dead. Whether these unfortunate souls died fighting fascism, or perhaps decidedly less noble causes, the bottom line is all of them believed in something bigger than themselves, and they gave their lives for it. … More Memorial Day

By Jack Canfora For years – nay, decades- we could count on the more conservative elements of society to take offense to all manner of things besetting our culture and ruining our way of life: from women having the vote to the automobile to the Charleston to Elvis to long haired louts from Liverpool to … More Don’t Be Offended If I Say I Hope You’ll Take Offense

By Jack  Canfora “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald* First the good news: this is NOT a political post. In no way is it a political post; this simply isn’t … More E Pluribus Screw ‘Em

By Jack Canfora Talking about the nature of humor or laughter is about as fun as stepping on Legos in bare feet. I get it. But hear me out. For the few of you who can recall essays I have written for this esteemed blog, I tend to try to levin somewhat serious topics with … More “A Sudden Glory”: A Thought Or Two On Humor

By Jack Canfora “How hard it is to be simple!” –  Vincent Van Gogh, in a letter to his brother Theo I start with this quote not merely to lend my post an unearned credibility by associating it with the sentiments of a genius, but because I find it an amazingly true insight into creativity … More Why I Don’t Get Invited To A Lot of Parties

By Jack Canfora Back in the waning days of the Coolidge Administration, I was but a young lad training to be a Shakespearean actor in London at a prestigious academy which, as I attended it, has reached a financial arrangement with me assuring I never mention it by name. We were taught by a man … More Some Cliched Advise About Avoiding Cliches