Writing from the Heart: A letter to my grandchild
Many, many years ago my sister called me on the phone, animated and breathless. She had signed up for a workshop with an organization called “The Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.”
She explained that they...
Writing from the Heart: Universal catchall
The other night I was at a friend's house when she was looking for a corkscrew. A bunch of us were in the kitchen watching the charade, while she was opening cabinets and drawers...
Writing from the Heart: Not cooked yet
You’ve probably heard the expression that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. So now I’m wondering if learning the same lesson over and...
Writing from the Heart: Fandom
There are three levels of fandom: an enthusiastic devotee, an ardent admirer, and a fanatic. Okay, so at first I was No. 1, an enthusiastic devotee. Then I became No. 2, an ardent admirer....
Writing from the Heart: A pretty face will fade
I swim down at the Mansion House almost every day, and in order to get out of the pool, I have to climb up three metal steps on a metal ladder. It’s very hard...
Writing from the Heart: ‘Middlemarch’ redux
Dear everyone who read my last column about the classic book “Middlemarch” –– for those of you who didn’t read it (my column, not “Middlemarch”), thank God. Don’t. It’s one of those “I was...
Writing from the Heart: Have you read ‘Middlemarch’?
You know in that book review section of the New York Times, the interview with a best-selling author? I always read them. When they ask what books are on their nightstand, I love it...
Writing from the Heart: Just yell, ‘Chicken!’
Joel and I were walking along State Road right near our house. We only have to be on the main road for about a tenth of a mile before we get to turn onto...
Writing from the Heart: Whatja get, whatja get?
It’s Christmas Envy time again. I know over the years I’ve complained about how left out I felt as a kid, how on Christmas morning everyone in the neighborhood would rush outside and practically...
Writing from the Heart: Fashionista
It makes sense that we are made up of many parts, and that those parts are all cohabiting under the one roof of our own complicated persona. I am a wife, a mother, an...
Writing from the Heart: Heart smart
I teach writing workshops and sometimes I start by saying, “We’re alchemists. We can turn hurt into gold. We can dance it, we can sculpt it, we can watercolor it. But in here, we...
Writing from the Heart: Where should we begin?
A few months ago, a friend gave me Esther Perel’s party game, Where Should We Begin? It's basically a bunch of cards with questions that when answered, evoke personal stories. The questions go from,...
Writing from the Heart: For God’s sake, it’s Sunday
I’ve been thinking a lot about death these days. Maybe it's the dry and curling leaves on the side of the road. Maybe it's because on the obituary page, they give the ages of...
Writing from the Heart: Special healing powers
It's not just that my major addiction is candy that makes Halloween my favorite holiday, it’s the dressing-up part. It’s such a great excuse to be someone else, even if only for a night.
Our...
Writing from the Heart: Interview with self and friends
One of the only sections of the New York Times Sunday paper I read is the book review. And one of the only parts I never miss is the piece right in the beginning,...
Writing from the Heart: De-rustifying
I thought I would never lose it. I thought once you could sing you would always be able to sing. I know I have (oops had) a good voice. In high school, even though...
Writing from the Heart: Steak out
I have always wanted to be a vegetarian.
Not one of those rigid, announcing at a dinner party “oh no thank you I don't eat meat” kind of vegetarian. But someone who quietly takes a...
Writing from the Heart: Perception and perspective
Before my friend Richard retired from teaching at a fancy college, he was a consultant for a big firm where he worked with the top executives from a few of the Fortune 500 companies.
On...
Writing from the Heart: Chances
Yesterday I was invited to a book talk at the Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven. My cousin, the author (whom I only found out is my cousin about six months ago, when she did...
Writing from the Heart: To the heart of writing
I'm reading Carol Gilligan's brilliant book, “In a Human Voice.” It’s been 40 years since her landmark tome, “In a Different Voice,” the book that swept the nation and became the core curriculum for...