Just two weeks into his second grade, Đán already started trouble. His general-music/healthy-habits teacher already emailed me about his behavior in class. He rolled around the floor and played around with the power cable connected to a projector. He didn’t follow instructions during lock-down drill. He ignored his teacher and distracted other students. We talked to him right after school. He told us that he was bored. We asked him to behave and he promised.

Yesterday, I received a call from his English and Spanish teachers. They both told me similar stories. He was bouncing on a chair and when his English teacher asked him to stop he ignored him. He said that he didn’t care. After school, I gave him an earful. I told him that he broke his promise to us. His response was, “I forgot.” I wanted to smack the sense out of him, but I didn’t. I took him and Đạo to swimming lesson early, but I only let Đạo into the water to play before class. He screamed and begged me, but I did not concede. It was a long hour, but I needed him to remember.

My wife talked to him at night as well. Since I will be away, I am hoping that she won’t let him have screen time on this weekend. He has to learn his lesson. As much as I like to give my kids freedom, we have to reign him in somehow.

I am contradicting myself as a father. I don’t want to put too much restraint on him. For the summer, I tried to give him as much room as possible. I didn’t say anything when he didn’t want to brush his teeth, take a bath, or eat his meal. I let him play iPad as much as his heart desired. I gave up on teaching him to read. My wife said I was ignoring him.

All of the sudden, he comes around to reading. We still read picture books, but I am fine with them as long as he wanted to read. He even wanted to write book report for his class assignments. I have been more than happy to help him out. I have been so proud of him and I told him so until his misbehaving this week.

All I can do now is reminding him to behave in class. All I can do now is hoping that he will change his behavior without killing his free spirit. He is still my baby boy.

Patricia Lockwood wanted to be a poet. Instead of going to college, she stayed home to write. She got married at 19. With not much financial support, she moved back to her parents’ rectory with her husband. In her debut memoir, Lockwood invites us into her the house of God where her dad is a priest, a Republican, a gun nut, and a Demo-cat hater. Lockwood shares, “My father despises cats. He believes them to be Democrats. He considers them to be little mean hillary clintons covered all over with feminist legfur. Cats would have abortions, if given half a chance. Cats would have abortions for fun.” A Republican, a preacher’s wife, and a mother of five, her mother is no less a character herself. Her mother reveals her father’s secret, “Like the time he shot the German shepherd that bit his bare legs in their little jogging shorts, or the time I got so mad at that priest who insulted my interior decorating that I told him I was going to come down so hard on his dick.” Almost every sentence in the book is witty and funny. Underneath those bright moments, however, Lockwood sheds lights on the darker truth about rape, suicidal attempt, and men’s power over her. It’s a poignant, poetic, hilarious, and insightful book on religion I have read.

In his latest Netflix special, Burr dismisses feminists, blames white women, and even disses Michelle Obama. His biggest target, however, is himself, the paper tiger. Through interactions with his wife (a black woman), Burr exposes his own ignorant white privilege. His jokes appear crude on the surface, but carefully crafted underneath. And that is damn-good comedy writing.

Lan Anh có chất giọng tốt: khỏe và cao. Cô chuyên trở từ alto qua soprano dễ dàng nên hơi tự tin. Đang lái xe một mình mà nghe cô trình bày “Đôi mắt người Sơn Tây” (Quang Dũng) với volume cao tôi phải kéo cửa sổ xuống. Tôi không sợ giọng cao nhức nhối của cô làm bể màng nhĩ mà chỉ lo ngại bể kính xe phải tốn tiền. Cô đẩy giọng mình qua khỏi khu vực dễ chịu cho người nghe. Bù lại cô hát chừng mực những tác phẩm như “Hẹn hò” (Phạm Duy) và “Bản tình cuối” (Ngô Thụy Miên). Riêng “Từ giọng hát em” (Ngô Thụy Miên) miêu tả chính xác về giọng hát Lan Anh: “Rồi từ giọng hát em chợt vút cao vút cao một trời một trời.”

Melanie Nga My là giọng hát khá mới nhưng không lạ. Em có chất giọng nhẹ, ngọt, và buồn. Hát thấp giống Ngọc Lan. Hát cao giống Y Phương. Còn hát run giống bị cảm. Chắc là em “Nhớ đêm mưa Sài Gòn” lắm nên run lập cập. Em muốn dùng vibrato nhưng kỷ thuật còn quá kém nên run thảm thương. Trình bày “Kỳ diệu” mà em run đến nỗi hát muốn không ra lời. Nhạc sĩ Anh Bằng mất lâu rồi. Chú không trách em đâu. Cứ nhẹ nhàng mà hát nhé đừng run nữa. Tội nghiệp quá.

At forty-nine, Ms. Morgan went through an ugly, nasty divorce after twenty years of being married to a man who didn’t appreciate her sensuality. What kind of husband refused his wife trying to wake him up in the morning with her mouth? In her postdivorce, Ms. Morgan set out to court five new lovers. As the title suggested, Ms. Morgan spent most of the book naked and having wild, passionate sex with guys twenty years younger than her as well as her high-school sweetheart. In writing about sex, Ms. Morgan doesn’t beat around the bush. She goes straight to the anus. From body to soul, Ms. Morgan bares everything on the page. It’s an emotional, intimate, and erotic memoir that will make you cry and come reading it.

Iteration 5 of this blog returns to one-column layout. The three-column grid in the previous iteration was getting too busy for me. Too many sidebars; therefore, I wanted to strip back to just the blog posts. All additional information is pushed to the bottom.

This iteration also returns to open-source typefaces: Crimson Pro and Livvic. Both designed by Jacques Le Bailly.

The hero text on the homepage feeds in from Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day and typeset in Font of the Month Club. I have been visiting my own site and learn a new word a day. A little narcissistic, I guess.

Cả tháng trước ngày nào cũng thức khuya dậy sớm để viết và thiết kế lại quyển sách của mình nên thiếu ngủ trầm trọng. Thứ Sáu vừa rồi cũng đã hoàn tất. Mấy ngày lễ cuối tuần sáng làm việc nhà xong lại không uống cà phê nên đến trưa là buồn ngủ vô cùng. Đọc sách cũng không xong. Mết quá không đưa đám nhỏ đi chơi. Chỉ quăng cho chúng nó cái iPad cũng xong.

Tuy cảm thấy có lỗi lắm nhưng biết sau bây giờ. Đã tìm đủ mọi phương pháp để cho nó không bị nghiện iPad nhưng giờ đây chúng không thể nào bỏ được. Nhà thì đủ chuyện để làm. Cỏ phải cắt phải tỉa. Vách tường phỉa rữa sạch. Trong nhà thì đồ đạc và đồ chơi tràn ngập từ lầu đến basement. Dọn dẹp được vài ba bữa lại lộn xộn tiếp. Thôi thì đến đâu hay đến đó. Đó là trách nhiệm của mình. Không làm được thì là do lỗi mình chứ không phải tại ai cả.

Thôi thì hãy nhẹ nhàng mà sống. Đến đâu hay đến đó. Phải lo cho sức khoẻ để nuôi dưỡng mấy thằng con. Không nên phí sức nữa. Cuối tuần này sẽ cố gắng đưa bọn nhỏ ra khỏi nhà. Đi lang thang đâu đó cũng được. Để tụi nó ở nhà thì chỉ có iPad từ sáng đến tối.

Sáng nay sau khi cắt cỏ, tôi trở vào nhà uống nước, nghỉ ngơi, và đợi cho mồ hôi ráo. Mấy thằng lớn thì ôm iPad chỉ còn lại Vương ngồi chơi một mình. Thấy vậy tôi đến chơi với nó. Không bao lâu nó lại bò vào lòng ngực tôi. Sợ mồ hôi và cỏ trên áo thun làm nó dơ nhưng nó vẫn ôm chặt lấy tôi và tựa đầu nói vào vai tôi. Không bao lâu nó thiếp đi. Đặc nó xuống ngủ ngon lành. Thằng này dễ dãi thấy mà thương.

When a headline suggests “You Can Definitely Skip Dave Chappelle’s New Netflix Special ‘Sticks & Stones,’” you should definitely watch it. Of course Chappelle is controversial (in Micheal Jackson’s case). Of course he is offensive (to the trans community). Of course he is provocative (to the poor white America). But he keeps it real. Let’s face it. As parents, we might be raising mass shooters, but white parents have an exponentially higher chance than the rest of us. If every living African American registered to get a firearm this election, the gun law will change. Let that one sink in. What makes Chappelle a living legend is not only because he has stayed true to the art of comedy, but he has also mastered the craft. He finds the uncomfortable angle of social issues and applies his own logic to it. You might not agree with him, but you will respect his view. That’s what I love about standup comedy. It provides a space for comics to push themselves as far as they can. We should enjoy and appreciate it. Not every country has the freedom of expression like we do in America, especially in the world of comedy.