The Fountain That Shuts Us Up

Finding Familial Joy in Trips to Calder’s "Hello Girls" at LACMA

I love being a father, I love being a journalist, and I love being an Angeleno. But being all those things doesn’t offer me many chances to be still. There’s always another assignment, another drive across downtown traffic, another pre-school pick-up.

My three-year-old son Ben is sometimes too much like me: hurried, fast-talking, fast-walking. The only time he slows down is when he spots a fountain. Words are my business, but I’m not sure how to explain the effect that moving water has on him. His body freezes and warms all …