empowerment

girls’ night out

I originally wrote this post a few years ago. But the message and the relevance seem particularly apt today (and the humor so truly needed). So for every woman who longs for change – now is the time to lose the glass slipper. And vote. So Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty walk into a […]

study hall

Because teaching is one of the world’s most noble professions, to limit appreciation of teachers to just one week seems not enough. That having been said, given that we are in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week, I am presented with the perfect opportunity to express my admiration for those teachers who have made much […]

ciao, bella

Everyone’s got their own version of comfort – being with the one you love, curling up with a good book and a better brandy, snuggling with your pet, eating spaghetti and meatballs. No, really, what? In a culinary world where pasta exists in so many shapes and sizes, to say nothing of a nearly infinite […]

leap year

So it seems that I find myself in what I like to call my second act. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision on my part but more as if I woke up one morning and realized hey, it’s time to find my next frontier (right after I find my reading glasses). I’ve spent my […]

first things first

Celebrating a first birthday is a life event — for the celebrant and those who rally around with cake, candles, gifts, and oohs and ahhs. So when I realized that my first novel’s first birthday is in a few days, it occurred to me that a party was in order — at least a party […]

just shy of a win

Anyone who has met me in the past few years would probably never guess that, while chatty, confident, and vivacious now (why, thank you!), I was an incredibly shy little girl. As in hide-behind-my-mother’s-skirt shy. First-day-of-school-terrified shy. Quiet-as-a-mouse shy. I was always really smart (although being voted Most Intellectual in my senior class was a […]

proof through the night

Four years ago I wrote a post entitled Pigs Are Flying because, let’s face it, the world had seemingly turned upside down that November day, and all we took to be logical and sensible suddenly was not. You might want to give it a quick look before reading on — I’ll wait. Done? Okay. The […]

read ’em and weep

Looking in the mirror can be a risky proposition, depending on the day. Are those really a few more laugh lines on my face? How is it possible that several more strands have strayed from golden to silver? And, to quote Meryl Streep’s character, Jane Adler, in It’s Complicated — is that what I look […]

riding shotgun with nancy drew

Having just finished reading The Female Persuasion, the bestselling novel by Meg Wolitzer, I’ve got feminism on my mind. The story is about a young, impressionable college student who meets a Gloria-Steinem-level feminist icon, and how their relationship — and their work for women’s empowerment — affects both of their lives. The novel tells of connections […]