It all started when my sister Deborah gave me a birthday card of four older women in swimsuits holding hands with each other and wading out into the ocean, their backs to the camera. “Like the four of us!” she pointed out, as if an explanation were necessary. “Yeah, let’s hope when the Braver sisters…
“I have never believed that everything happens for a reason. But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column.”—Gail Collins, “The Breast Brouhaha,” November 18, 2009, New York Times Am I a worrier? It hardly seems worth asking; my pedigree is impeccable. My forebears worried about…
A recent front-page article in the S.F. Chronicle explained a crucial connection between inadequate sleep and depression among teens. Rather than merely being a hallmark of depression, as was previously thought, sleep deprivation may actually be one cause of the condition. I must have needed some comic relief after taking in the body of this…
One afternoon, my son Reuben climbed into the car after a day at the Crowden School in Berkeley, where he was an eighth-grader. “Mom, guess what? I got the lead part in the play!” “Wow, good for you! What play?” I headed south on Sacramento Street, actually kind of proud of myself for not knowing…
I’m better than I once was at letting go of stuff. Between flea markets, second-hand shops and online resources, the world has become one big carousel of buying and selling, acquiring and giving, making me feel I can essentially get something back if I want to. Not that I want to. I’ve had avalanches to…
October 29th— Today is the 91st birthday of a dear friend of mine, Bereni Karasik, with whom I studied piano as a teenager, and who knew my parents before I was born. I’ve always felt a strong connection to this magnificent woman, with her keen intelligence and regal old-world bearing. I’ve kept in touch over…
An October 19th New York Times essay entitled “When Parents Are Too Toxic to Tolerate” addresses the issue of adults dealing with parents who aren’t merely demanding or neurotic, but truly emotionally abusive. Sometimes, contends author Dr. Richard A. Friedman, the solution is to cease contact. I’m always grateful for articles that question our society’s…
I don’t want to be known only as that cranky person who spends her writing life finding fault. So here are a few things I think we don’t celebrate enough. The autumn. Truly underrated; the best time of year by far. There’s something about the angle of the sun that makes the ordinary look magical. …