Suprise Me

New Leaf Over the years we’ve thrown some big milestone parties –  for my husband Danny’s 30th birthday, our 25th anniversary,   Danny’s 60th at Yankee Stadium,  two big housewarmings,  my retirement,  my 70th,  and of course our son Noah’s bar mitzvah.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family) Then a few years ago on a glorious… Read More

Until her death ten years ago, we lived a few blocks away from Patricia Neal in downtown Edgartown, where she had been been a fixture for years. She often sat on her front porch and was pleased to say “good morning” to all who passed by. But the “Martha’s Vineyard way” was to not impose… Read More

Boycott As a child I don’t remember  questioning the authority of my teachers,  I loved school and remember no run-ins there. My parents were easy-going and so neither do I remember much contention at home,  although as a teenager I had the usual adolescent battles with my mother,  and remember storming out of the house… Read More

I still have a pang in my gut crossing any border, even when it should be benign.  Anything could happen in that liminal area. Read More

The year: 1957-1958. I was six and my sister was eight when our parents told these two San Francisco-born California girls that we were packing up and moving to New York City. My father had entered the doctoral program at Teachers College, Columbia University, and we’d be living in Morningside Heights for a year—giving up… Read More

  Here is a short analogy that illustrates how perfectionism is a form of imbalance: Imagine a seesaw. On one side of the seesaw is perfectionism, and on the other side is self-acceptance. When we are perfectionists, we are putting all of our weight on the side of perfectionism. This causes the seesaw to become… Read More

Health, education, and welfare: equality is improving, but progress is uneven. Read More

Trump was the opposite of everything represented by the big man who worked in the mine. I began with an opening verse whose phrasing was very close to the original. Every morning at the Tower, you could see him arrive With soft, small hands, he weighed two-forty-five Wore an extra-long tie, stared at all the girls’ tits And everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Mean Don Read More

Past inaugurations have also brought dramatic changes in approaches to governing. Read More

My Favorite Beatle Like every girl of my generation, I had a favorite Beatle and about a year ago we actually met! My husband and I were having lunch at Lexington Candy Shop on Lex & 83rd,  a favorite local coffeeshop.  The place prides itself on it’s celebrity patronage with signed photos on the walls… Read More