On a recent short getaway I was sitting over breakfast one morning with my friend B, clearly jonesing from both the absence of my netbook and the dearth of decent newspapers available at the hotel at which we were staying. While I pushed my eggs around my plate, B pulled out his Kindle, bought the day’s New York Times for me, downloaded it and handed me his little machine to… Read More »Stop Me Before I Click Again
Weirdest story of the week: The New York Times today ran a piece on some schools and some school officials discouraging students from having a “best” friend. Being friends with everyone is supposed to, well, put an end to bullying. I was bulled in middle school and I have written a seminal article on school bullying for Brain, Child magazine a few years ago (well before the topic became so… Read More »Nobody is Gonna Tell Me Who to Be Friends With
Bill Press had a discussion on the “war” in Afghanistan on his radio show this morning. I put the word “war” in quotation marks because it remains difficult for me to decide whether this is an actual war or another incursion/occupation based on our idea of promoting democracy around the world—even in places that aren’t receptive to it. His point was: Where is the media coverage? Where is the information… Read More »Why Are We in Afghanistan? And Other Pressing Questions
Belief systems are a funny thing. They’re hard felt, hard won and nearly impossible to shake. And unfortunately, most of them are often built on things other than facts. Polls frequently tell us what the American public “believes.” We “believe” that health care reform will not make a difference in our lives; we “believe” that our government has too much power; we “believe” that government programs necessarily mean a socialist… Read More »What Do You Believe?
In the Christian tradition, Lent is a period of forty days, beginning today, Ash Wednesday, when the observant go into a period of denial, penance, and prayer, and, more commonly give up something important to them until Easter. While, as a Jew, I do not subscribe to the risen Christ—and can’t really reconcile giving over the suffering of someone else’s punishment as reparation for my own sins– it’s more than… Read More »I Am Giving Up Hope for Lent
As women, we’ve all had our “aha moments. Mine came when I watched Anita Hill testify at the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in the early Nineties. I found nothing she said fantastic or unbelievable; in my experience, it all seemed like it could easily have happened.As I listened to her testimony, I realized that what I had been subject to a dozen years ago, was also sexual harassment by a… Read More »On Misogyny: The Happiness Factor
My daughter asks a lot of questions; she wants to know the definitions of words, what things mean she hears on the news, what I think of something on Facebook or You Tube. She needs help choosing books to read, formulating political ideas, and coming to conclusions. Dictionary, encyclopedia, library, newscast, advice columnist, that’s me, her very own “content provider.” When something happens that she has somehow missed, she says… Read More »I’m Not Content with Giving Content
“I’m looking forward to Christmas,” an old friend tells me over the phone. She’s spending it with her Jewish ex-husband and two half-Jewish college-aged daughters. “I love spending Christmas with the Jews.” The stereotype in America has long been that on Christmas day Jews go out for Chinese food and see a movie. This is one cliché that rings true. After all, as George Clooney says to his young protégé… Read More »A Very Jewish Christmas
“Every customer is valuable and, they’re even more valuable today because there are fewer of them.” Ron Frasch, chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, on improving service in the holiday season.” The New York Times, Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Some many years ago when I was childless and still had expendable income, I was at the cosmetics counter of Lord & Taylor waiting for someone to help me. I stood… Read More »Thank You For Shopping!!!!
There are post-it notes all over my mother’s room at the assisted living place where she has lived since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the summer of 2005. She loves post-it notes. She likes them in bright colors like hot pink and green. Some of them have her name on them: A Note From…. She has always like post-it notes—they used to accompany the many newspaper and magazine articles she… Read More »Note: Call Doctor Re Memory & Knowledge Loss. Terrified.