Finding Magic Mountain

Suddenly, Prisco Ramirez was no stranger. I could recite his sorrows by heart: countless hours of helplessness, the suffering of seeing your child lose the ability to put on shoes…

When music replaced sports for Vincent and he joined band in high school, he began to save for a silver trumpet. We all saw catalogue versions of the instrument: sterling,…

Sometimes the best way to get things done may not be the ideal way. But when I enlist the principal’s help in subduing some rowdy kids in Vincent’s class, the…

Three years ago, when Isabel was in kindergarten, her popular, veteran teacher with spun-silver hair, gold glasses, and a Harry Potter name — Mrs. Snavely — held Careers Week. During…

It was a warm October evening in the Valley, and we were watching our red and blue high school marching band line up on the edge of the field, waiting…

“Mom! It’s from the Philippines!” Vincent, my eleven-year-old, his beautiful face round from steroids, his T-shirt distended by a swelling on his back, held out the receiver. It was near…

Our life is a Magic Mountain. I realized this the day I was in the California theme park’s Gotham City, strapped to a giant wheel — THE GRINDER — revolving…