Culture

The word lays like a time bomb, ticking away. It could explode at any moment.  It is divisive and polarizing.  It has both political origins and religious connotations, making it a double-jeopardy topic to steer clear of at social gatherings.  To some, it is a label that advances righteous causes and promises to liberate. To […]

There were eight of us gathered around the table for a catered dinner at the house of my husband’s boss. The small talk was pleasant and expected. Nothing riveting or even interesting, really.  Then out of nowhere, someone mentioned the wall. Not the dining room wall or the wall in the hallway—the wall along the […]

There were three channels, four if you counted public television. And at some point during the night, the screen resembled snow. We couldn’t watch a movie that wasn’t in a theater. We couldn’t listen to our favorite song if we didn’t own it on vinyl or cassette. There were no tablets, at least not the […]

It’s been more than a decade since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, which caused a huge uproar in 2004. But Super Bowl LIV’s halftime show, featuring performances by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, lit up Facebook and Twitter feeds like the Fourth of July. Backlash swelled across cyber space like a […]

Hit the play bar above to hear this blogcast. What this mother learned about work from a famous father and a legendary Son. He was a very famous father, only he wasn’t known for being a dad. He changed the world with his inventions, his ingenuity, his ambition, and his genius. Tragically, his life was […]

“We haven’t decided if we want to have more kids,” she said. It wasn’t an odd statement. Not at all. It was the kind of statement I had made for the first twenty years of our marriage. Actually, that’s not true. For the first ten years of our marriage, I said:  “I don’t want to have […]

She understood me. She was the first person who did. The ruminating thoughts, the downward spiral, the world of horrors that was always a mutant breath away—she understood it all.

Twenty years ago, I had a conversation with a sweet, well-meaning relative who explained to me that people who took medication for mental illness didn’t have enough faith.

Hate crimes dominate the headlines. Our culture is afflicted with “isms” rooted in hate.

Sometimes… I want to live in a land where the worst thing that happens is that my boyfriend forgot to tell me that he is next in line for the throne to of a tiny European country