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Essays of Otto for Jan. 13, 2021 - D is for Delay
January 14, 2022
Did you get very many snow days off from school when you were a kid? If you have kids, do they get very many nowadays? I grew up in the D.C. area, where it...
Essays of Otto for Jan. 7, 2022 - Parents Strongly Cautioned
January 7, 2022
I hope your new year is going well so far. Are you remembering to write 2022 on all of your checks? Do you ever write checks anymore? This week's essay...
Essays of Otto for Jan. 2, 2022 - An Oakes Family Christmas
January 2, 2022
Happy New Year, gentle reader! The end of the year is a traditional time for totaling things up and taking stock, so, on this last day of the dread year...
Essays of Otto for Dec. 14, 2021 - The Elfman Cometh
December 14, 2021
Hi stranger! It's been a while. I thought I might be stopping doing these, but here I am again. This one kind of welled up out of me as I wondered just how...
Corrected link: Fwd: Essays of Otto for September 21, 2021 - Q is for Quarantine
September 21, 2021
My last transmission seems to have had a bad link to today's essay. My gratitude to the hundreds of readers who wrote in bewailing this. Here you go, and my...
Essays of Otto for September 21, 2021 - Q is for Quarantine
September 21, 2021
Good morning everyone, and how is your quarantine going? What's that you say? You're not on quarantine? That's strange. Everybody else seems to be. Here's...
Essays of Otto for September 10, 2021 - Almanac: September in Waldhurst
September 10, 2021
Sorry to vanish on you for the last six months. There was a death in the family, and this project went on hiatus. I'm back, though, with a report on the...
Essays of Otto for April 11, 2021 - Report After Easter Sunday
April 11, 2021
I have always found Easter to be a strange holiday. I don't look forward to it like I look forward to, say, Christmas, but I usually end up enjoying it more...
Essays of Otto for March 28, 2021 ~ Welcome to the S*** House
March 28, 2021
We’ve all been there: the eyelids grown heavy, slumber beckoning—but no, someone is having a party, and we won’t be allowed to sleep until a keg of crappy...
Essays of Otto for March 16, 2021 - Opa and the A-Team
March 16, 2021
One of the reasons the 2020s is such an awful time to be a kid is because there are too many television shows. More specifically, as a kid today, there are...
Essays of Otto for March 7, 2021 - The Accident: On Becoming a Gaming Family
March 7, 2021
Are you a video-gaming family? Now, more importantly, did you ever really decide that you would be? Or did it just sort of... happen? Most importantly: Is...
Essays of Otto for March 2, 2021 - Eventualities
March 2, 2021
I’m sure this will seem utterly paranoid and out of left field, but—as a one-time member of the ranks of government officials—lately I’ve been thinking about...
Essays of Otto for February 21, 2021
February 21, 2021
One of the tough things about the pandemic countermeasures being taken in the Oakes household is the constant nagging doubt about how necessary they are. If...
Essays of Otto for February 14, 2021 - Border Crossings
February 14, 2021
A quick question: What do jaywalking, whiskey drinking, and swearing have in common? Answer: They are all on the list of things children absolutely must...
Essays of Otto for February 7, 2021 - Sowing Discord
February 8, 2021
Hello dear reader, Gut check: think about your phone. If you are thinking about your landline phone–if, in fact, you even still have one–color me surprised....
Essays of Otto for Jan. 31, 2021 - Fool for Love
January 31, 2021
Today’s essay has it all: a reference to small arms fire and tear gas, a meditation on a vexing corner of public policy, and the use of the word “urodynamic”...
Essays of Otto for Jan. 18, 2021 - Believe It or Not
January 18, 2021
The church bells are chiming noon and Waldhurst lies under a blanket of fresh snow as I prepare this email. Yes, it’s just that picturesque here today, as we...
Essays of Otto for January 10, 2021
January 10, 2021
Hello all, and happy January! Just kidding, there is never anything happy about January, and this year even less so. “The best lack all conviction, while the...
Essays of Otto for December 22, 2020 - The Cat Before Christmas
December 22, 2020
Merry Christmas, if that’s your thing. If not, I hope you have a good next few weeks. There are signs we might have a white Christmas in these parts,...
Essays of Otto for Dec. 14, 2020 - "Animals Generally Avoid Being Taken": Report on Ten Years as a Maximally Ethical Hunter
December 14, 2020
Hello everybody, It's been a few weeks—sorry to leave you hanging! One of the advantages of self-publishing my essays is that there is no hard-and-fast...
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