It was lonely.  I suppose it was just adolescent agonizing over the search for independence and existential meaning, while simultaneously longing for acceptance and inclusion from kids my age. You know, the usual. Read More

A litter of kittens frolicking in the California sun, named by my teenaged aunt Susan:  Peanuts, Schroeder, Linus and Charley Brown. Left behind when his family moved, we inherited the tawny pai dog.  Feral and battle-scarred, a forever stray who one day vanished.  Bishkar. Gray and white cat, clawing, meowing, rubbing, always knowing how to… Read More

With apologies to Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist. Read More

Then, in the fall of 1963, an amazing thing happened.  The State Department, through the United States Information Service (USIS), sponsored a goodwill tour of American jazz musicians.  None other than the Duke Ellington Band—yes, that one!--made an astoundingly extensive tour that, according to google, went from New York to Damascus, Amman, Jerusalem, Beirut, Kabul, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Kandy, Dacca, Lahore, Karachi, Teheran, Isfahan, Abadan, Baghdad, Beirut and Ankara.  You may have noticed Dacca in that list. Read More

I think it was my fourteenth birthday when my father bought me a transistor radio.  They were a wonder.  Mine was small enough to hold in a hand, with a little leatherette case and ear bud, from Japan. Read More

In the end, she decided she didn’t want to break up the family, and returned, telling my father never to mention the idea of doing a PhD to her, EVER!  It was too late.  That was that. Read More

In 1957,  travel overseas meant lots of shots for our whole family—Mom. Dad, and three children.  I was the middle child, age 6.   We had to go to a special clinic in downtown Lansing, and we children were promised we would be taken out to dinner if we “behaved”.  This would be a big deal… Read More

We had no details. Television? None in the house.  Radio?  I can’t recall.  And really, why should it be covered 24/7 in Botswana?  When you read about a disaster on the other side of the world, how many details do you hear?   Internet?  Smartphone? This was 1989.  Read More

In the darkness, find light Sun shines, laughter peals Watch again and again Read More

The Goops, they lick their fingers, And the Goops, they lick their knives; They spill their broth on the tablecloth, Oh, they lead disgusting lives! Read More

Somehow, we turned into a street and found ourselves in Old Dacca, where we clearly didn’t belong.  Read More

With apologies to Julie Andrews. Read More

Sally called me Cyd Charisse, but the hairdo was the only resemblance. Read More

In Canada, new programs were suddenly in place for the unemployed and businesses. Schools closed, gatherings were progressively smaller.  Everything was changed, reminding me that “normal” can dissipate overnight. I harbored a guilty thought—could world-on-pause be something good? Read More

Kids! Try this at home! Read More

I didn’t learn who McCarthy was until much later. And I know now why news is so important. Read More

Now that decision seems pre-ordained and perfect, as life never is--but it is for me. Read More

I don’t think the memory of that ever left her, written wordlessly in a scar on her heart. Read More

I just did an inventory:  81. Read More

The executive team fought unionization ferociously--  we were fomenting discord and destroying the clinic, and how could we do this to the community? Read More

  I always thought I had a knack for drawing.  Someone encouraged this when I was twelve, a year when my family was stationed in East Pakistan, and I came under the wing of an ex-pat Danish artist name Tova. She helped me do an oil painting for my parents, a still life with two… Read More

Trust yourself. Read More

There is only ONE THING you are permitted to say Read More

The most complete darkness I ever knew was in Vietnam Read More

applying for med school while female Read More