Monthly Archives: December 2022

Let’s be honest…it’s not only at this time of year and family togetherness when some of us struggle with people pleasing. And it’s not only with family; we can struggle with our boss, old friends, new acquaintances. Damn—even the nasty checker at the grocery store if we’re having a particularly challenging day. Why? One ofContinue reading “Hella Bougie”

The end of the calendar year is like the opening lines of Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities”, the best of times, the worst of times. For many who gather together to celebrate the winter holidays and festivals of light it can be a time of warm nights by the fire, reminiscing over egg nog andContinue reading “The Dimmest of Stars”

I was recently introduced to the poetry of Diamond Forde. She writes about the female body. The black female body. Birth and death and periods and sex. She writes about pain. And healing. And, while I do not presume to understand the experience being a black American woman, I can say that I know pain.Continue reading “Rememory”

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at an outdoor café across from Tel Aviv Art Museum. I was meeting a friend and had arrived early and was enjoying the late morning autumn sunshine. To my left I heard Russian. To my right I heard French. And in front and behind—Hebrew. All of these soundsContinue reading “All of it”

As I get older, I have less patience for an agreeability that requires a silencing. A semi-pretending. Yet, agreeability is important; it is key to our survival. So, how do we keep our agreeability and not lose our voice? How, in a sea of TikTok videos and social media influencers and strong parents and bossyContinue reading “To Agree or Not to Agree”

My daughter sent this to me today; it was taken somewhere in the underbelly of the NY Subway. I don’t know what it means. I don’t think I’m unique in my desire to know what things mean. To be unsettled by uncertainty.  Flux. Confusion. The in-between. Children who confound us. Complicated relationships. Ourselves and ourContinue reading “A Different Kind of Knowing”

I remember my senior year in college going to a party with a bunch of International Students. And after a few beers, the Internationals took turns doing their impressions of the typical American. One put on a barely discernable southern accent and said something about rodeos. Another talked about wawlking the dawg; and then oneContinue reading “Pure Brilliant You”

is the name of a new book I am reading by Eileen Myles. The book, part craft, part anthology, explores and presents examples of the pathetic. Which, according to Myles, has undergone many changes in definition and reception. For them, the pathetic is the act of taking a little less or a little more. ItContinue reading “Pathetic Literature”