Benedetta's Birthday
For many families, weekends are a time to catch up with relatives who live someplace else.
View ArticleSeeing The Deadish
In this age of alternative facts, almost anything can be up for debate. Take one obvious distinction – whether someone is dead or alive.
View ArticleWhile There Is Still Music
As we head into a new year, many of us will be looking for inspiration – to lose weight, add exercise or make other changes in our lives.
View ArticleTen Tips For Getting Well
When you are sick, don’t watch the nightly news. If you do, in addition to your current illness, you will wind up developing an ulcer. Also, don’t view Stranger Things when you’re feverish. You will...
View ArticleFrom Charlottesville With Love
One morning, as I drove down a narrow country lane in Charlottesville, I spotted an African-American boy, about eleven, perched on a bike. He sat in the middle of the road, precisely at the center of a...
View ArticleDon't Grab The Stick
Once, as I waited for my husband, Bruce, outside the door of a Trader Joe’s in Manhattan, a blond-haired man walked up and stood uncomfortably close to me, definitely well within my personal space. He...
View ArticlePet to Table Dining
Growing up, I desperately wanted a pet. We lived in a tenement bordered by an asphalt driveway in the back and a concrete sidewalk in the front. Our apartment was so tiny that we needed only a cook...
View ArticleCaring For Mrs. J
Each year, the University of Virginia's School of Nursing sponsors a writing competition for its students -- a chance to reflect on the career they've chosen. This year's winner was graduate student...
View ArticleYour Happy Little Pill
Your Happy Little Pill by Kataeya Daley, a student at UVA School of Nursing
View ArticleIf I Was You
In my hip hop class, we dance to a Meghan Trainor song whose lyrics are: “ If I was you, I would wanna be me, too. I would wanna be me, too.”
View ArticleLiving Forever
My dad died in March. Even though he needed a pacemaker to regulate his heart and he was a brittle, non-compliant diabetic, his death still shocked us. Often, my father would start a sentence, “ If I...
View ArticleOn the Advisability of Swearing
Recently, after four attempts, a TSA agent failed to collect a non-fuzzy image of my fingerprints. No matter how firmly I pressed and no matter how I positioned my hand, the device would not record my...
View ArticleWords You Never Want to Hear
A couple of weeks ago, at the end of a cut, my stylist said, “Hmm…your hair looks strange.” A week of high humidity had made me resemble a poodle. Perhaps that’s what she meant. As you might imagine,...
View ArticleWhy Not Pass the ERA?
When the Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee yesterday rejected the Equal Rights Amendment, its chair, Del. Margaret Ransone, said: “I don’t need words on a piece of paper — God made us all equal.”
View ArticleFlying Attack Owls
As a child, I never wanted to sleep in a room with an open closet door. When I was about five, my parents took us to visit friends in Buffalo, New York. I bunked with Jimmy, also about five, who...
View ArticleSparks of Joy by Deborah Prum
My Facebook feed is full of photos of shipshape garages, orderly closets and neatly stacked undies. Marie Kondo, an organizing consultant, encourages people to sort their belongings. And, if an object...
View ArticleDreaming
I write for a living, which means I sit in front of a computer for hours. For years, I balanced on the edge of a rigid wooden chair. Later, I moved to a tipsy rolling chair. Neither provided back...
View ArticleLook Before You Leap
As I look back on my life, I’ll have to admit that I’ve been plagued by less than stellar judgment. I’ve identified three categories: pure bad judgment, bad judgment with good intentions, bad judgment...
View ArticleIn Pursuit of Nature
Years ago, I wanted my friend, Meredith, to take me with her on a camping trip to Lake George. I deliberately didn’t tell her that I knew nothing about camping. I didn’t want her to ditch me for a more...
View ArticleDressing As If You've Given Up On Life
Last year, the locker rooms were under renovation at my gym. Each morning, I headed to a tiny, co-ed space where, for obvious reasons, no one was allowed to actually change. You could take off outer...
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