Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 49
January 16, 2016
Fun a Day Reseda – When you turn 18
My son turns 18 today. I’m happy for him. I also recognize that as tough as the past few years have been for him, the ones ahead will be even harder. I know this because my early adult years were hard. Within a week after my 18th birthday, I got the job at Carl’s Jr. About …
January 6, 2016
Fun a Day Reseda – What is a remainder and why do you call Reseda one?
After I announced my Fun a Day project, a friend of mine asked what I meant by calling Reseda “a community that has felt ‘thrown away’.” I’ll share with you my answer, but I first want to explain what a remainder is, how communities and people can wind up feeling treated like one, and what to …
January 1, 2016
Fun a Day Reseda – My 2016 Project
Fun a Day Reseda is back! And I’m back too with a new project. Fun a Day is a community program where people work on a creative project every day during the month. It can be painting, photography, music, writing, crafts, or anything that stirs your creative energies. In February or March, there will be a community …
December 20, 2015
How to be married for 25 years
My wife and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary. We realize we’ve accomplished something remarkable, because many marriages don’t last as long as ours. Our marriage has even lasted longer than both of our parents’ first marriages. We don’t claim to be relationship experts, and we’ve made our fair share of mistakes. We’ve found a few …
December 11, 2015
2015 Parody: American Pie
Yes, this song has been parodied before (and so well that Don McLean himself has accidentally sung the lyrics). With all the crazy stuff that happened this year, “American Pie” is the only song that can cover it all. (And with a few weeks left to this year, who knows what other crazy stuff can still …
December 3, 2015
My holiday musical ugly sweaters
At times like these, we need some holiday music to lift our spirits, like the top 10 holiday songs that I posted last year. There are some holiday songs we should avoid. This is a list of what I call “musical ugly sweaters.” These songs are played every holiday season, but they are annoying, unlistenable, or just plain …
November 29, 2015
No NFL in LA
It has been an exciting weekend of football in the Los Angeles area. We were treated to a Thanksgiving full of NFL games on TV. We had the USC-UCLA game (which the Bruins lost, unfortunately). High school football playoffs are nearing their championships. And we may be close to having one or more NFL teams back …
November 23, 2015
Why I won’t unfriend you despite your abhorrent posts
In the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, I read a number of Facebook posts that made me sick to my stomach. Even worse, a number of them were from friends I’ve known for years. I could have done what some of my other friends have done and blocked and unfriended people who made posts like …
November 15, 2015
Be thankful for the bad stuff
It’s November. While some argue whether a coffee cup in Christmas colors is sufficiently Christmassy, we may forget that there is an important holiday this month, Thanksgiving. Giving thanks isn’t some wimpy rainbows-and-unicorns sentiment. It sometimes forces us to deal with guilt when we fail to do the good we should. Furthermore, gratitude isn’t just for the …
November 3, 2015
Review: The Word Game by Steena Holmes
A sex offender is a parent’s worst nightmare. That person’s crimes not only irreparably harm the victims, but they can tear families and communities apart and cause pain that lasts for years. This is the subject of The Word Game, the latest by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Steena Holmes. She has shown skill and personality in her …
