Author Archives: Musings

But if something did happen, it happened. Whether it’s right or wrong. I accept everything that happens…says a character in Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore”. Accepting the truth of the past, of the present is not always easy. We can hold on to resentment for things done to us, and we can hold onContinue reading “Finding our Way”

I’ve been watching the Netflix series “Ginny and Georgia” with my youngest daughter. Its off-beat humor has been a fun distraction…until the most recent episode when one of the characters (I don’t think this is a spoiler) explores his depression. In detail. The camera angle is from above; you see him plop into bed, describeContinue reading “Whispers”

Recently, I find myself turning to the Japanese poetic form zuithitsu. It’s hard to define zuithitsu; some say it is comparable to the lyric essay, others a list poem, and others call it chaotic, fragmented, un-definable. Which is exactly why it resonates with me right now. I find myself more at home in fragmentation thanContinue reading “Zuihitsu”

Happy 2023. May it be a blessed year for us all! May it also be a year of honesty. Starting with ourselves. Starting with asking ourselves, how are you really? And I mean really.  Whatever you are feeling. I mean whatever. Because that is where the suffering/struggle starts…that first flicker of a feeling that feelsContinue reading “Hybrida”

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”