My girlfriend says she would like to be a fly on the wall between two urinals. “What would I overhear?” she asks me. I tell her the last time a man spoke to me above a urinal, I think he said, “How about them Bruins?” “And what did you say in return?” she …
A number of years ago, we made arrangements to have a seventeen-year-old boy spend the school year with us. His parents were moving and David wanted to finish his senior year in our area. When they brought him over for a house visit, he and I ended up playing basketball. It was a friendly way …
Joel Peckham’s “Phys-Ed” is both story and essay about masculinity, boys’ competitions on-field and off-, knocking a man down, identity, fitting in, family, sons & fathers, sex, beer, and rock ’n’ roll. He tumbles these subjects in our minds and sieves them for his truths, covering as much guy-territory as any piece in this anthology. …
Men are competitive. Some say competition is the overriding male impulse, begun shortly after we emerge from Mom’s womb and start competing with Dad for her love. Parents who have raised both boys and girls know competitiveness is in their sons’ genes, pointing to their wrestling and roughhousing natures. Men compete in our speech, ideas, …