Maybe you have this holiday week off, or maybe you’re just enjoying a little come down after a jam-packed month of parties, shopping, pageants or religious observances. I love the holidays — taking down the Christmas tree is one of my least favorite days of the year — but feels like many of us have let out a small sigh…
The morning after Halloween, I was riding my bike through our Brooklyn neighborhood and all seemed normal. A woman carrying a Starbucks coffee carried on a cellphone conversation about how many trick or treaters they’d gotten, a jogger wearing white earbuds and spandex dashed by, a dog walker dutifully scooped up poop. And it all made me suddenly, intensely angry.…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Today’s question comes from Lauren McCabe, mermaidchronicles.com, @mermaidtales on Twitter, originally posted on her blog under the headline In…
Late in the summer, I finally made it through an aging copy of Psychology Today in a magazine stack next to the bed. I kept that magazine since 2010 because its cover promoted an article on making your own luck, though I can’t begin to explain why it took me two years to read a well-written piece on a topic…
I love to host parties — I enjoy inviting friends over for small dinners and huge cocktail affairs, and typically I accept that life is messy so something is going to go wrong. But about a year ago, I had one of my worst hostess moments. We were cohosting a living room concert at which New Orleans cellist Helen Gillet…
John and I recently spent a day in Woodstock, that small New York state town best known for the music festival that shares its name. As we wrapped up brunch at the lovely Oriole9, we saw this huge chalkboard in their entry way: It called to mind Jennifer Worick’s recent Blogversation question: What is the one thing in life that…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Why do I love New Orleans? If I say it’s about the music, food, architecture and art, that doesn’t…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I had such a wild 2011, a year of such intense personal and professional transformation, that it’s hard to…
In the three years I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to write regularly and to get to know topics and people that inspire me. Even more so, I’ve loved the chance to engage in conversations about those topics and people. Ages ago, when I was a young newspaper reporter, writing was mostly a one-way process. Occasionally…
Some of the decisions I have made this year — choosing a part-time job over full time so I could launch my own business in a tough economy, spending two months in New Orleans when we have a cozy place in a great Brooklyn neighborhood — don’t make sense to some people. Ditto our choice not to have children, not…
I’d never heard of St. Vitus’ Dance until I read an ABC News story recently about its anniversary: St. Vitus’ Dance, back in 1374, groups of people — sometimes thousands at a time — started dancing uncontrollably. It continued for days, and in some cases, weeks and months. Some people reportedly danced until they collapsed from exhaustion or even death,…
My blogging to-do list includes several stories I’m excited about, so I hope you’ll stop back in the weeks to come for: a profile of Brook Eddy, a single mother of twins who made the unlikely move from nonprofit fundraising to starting a chai tea company that’s approaching $2 million in sales. Brook is an old friend of ours from…
John and I arrived in New Orleans for our quasi-sabbatical on March 25 so we’re approaching one month in our temporary hometown. I’m already getting pangs about time running short. We have Easter weekend coming up, then two weekends of Jazz Fest, then we pack up for home a few days later. So after we’ve crossed the halfway point in…
I’ve been struck by how many people have trial by fire stories from a big journey — often at the very outset of the trip. Two couples we know had all their belongings stolen at the start of long international treks, and in the book I’m reading, Letters from New Orleans, the author’s girlfriend has her car stolen almost immediately…
