Finally, a Finished Collage

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…

Imposed Worry

“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…

Losing Sleep Over It

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…

A Better Woody Allen

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…

A Different Silver Spoon

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…

Five Underrated Things

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. …