Suprise Me

My parents didn’t keep baby books, but they did keep photo albums. The kind with the black construction paper pages. They pasted the pictures in, or else sometimes the pictures were held by those photo corners with adhesive on the back. They made an album for each of their three daughters. At some point, after… Read More

As we mark Middle Child Day, I think we are missing folks who embody the stereotypical qualities of middle children. Read More

Don't regret having to retire. Some are denied the privilege. Read More

In the fall of 1974 I arrived as an incoming freshwoman at Mills College in Oakland, California. We were each assigned a “zipper,” an upperclasswoman who helped orient us to the college, the Bay Area, and the particularities of language in the heyday of feminism. My college essay included something about how comfortable I expected… Read More

The Dinner Party I’ve written about my mother Jessie before and some of the things she’s told me – among them how to approach difficult tasks,  and how to rectify mistakes made – and I try to heed her words.   (See  My Game Mother, Elbow Grease   and Art Imitates Life) Jessie was a high school… Read More

If,a guy isn’t sure what brand of bike he is riding, then you know he’s not in the fraternity. Members not only know what brand they are riding but can tell you whether it’s made of carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium, or steel. Read More

Sometimes the prize you seek is not the prize at all. Read More

She and my mother were distinctly different personalities, but I always thought of her as a second mother. Read More

A grown son is one of life’s rewards. Once I could carry him on my shoulders, he holding my ears. Now he towers over me, and knows how to do things, talk to people, manage situations, has a family of his own, makes a living, and (surprisingly, considering his gene pool) he can dance. It is thrilling. Why would I want to screw up this good thing by taking him to Vegas? Read More

I, in the throes of the Dunning-Kruger Effect*, decided that it was obviously the bike that was blocking my path to Über-ridership. Read More