Month: September 2018

In this moment, being locked inside a female body holds an incredible level of salience for half the population of this nation.  In the days ahead,  a group of aging white males will decide again how we who happen to occupy female  bodies are used, valued, and viewed.  Thankfully, two strong white women are being lobbied to stand in their way.  For me, it’s taken a lifetime of challenges to navigate this world in the body of a female. Continue reading “This Female Body”

I had an interesting two days this week when I urged students at the University where I work to take a moment to publicly share how they plan to be involved in preserving their civil liberties this year.  The event was designed to convey the expectation of personal civic responsibility and more. Continue reading “Civic Duty”

I am an addict.  My brain is addicted to the high that romantic stories can deliver.  My newest happy hour (hours) is watching (and re-watching) all 49 episodes of the newly released Chinese Netflex series called, “Meteor Garden”.  It’s the romantic tale of a strong, highly principled, plain looking, female university freshmen from a middle class upbringing accidentally clashing with a highly popular, wealthy, smart, but ill-mannered male university senior.  I’m surprised that I wasn’t completely put off by the sub-titles nor by the physical violence that would have gotten the young man expelled from an American university.  But the show follows a romantic formula that my addict brain craves.   Continue reading “Guilty Pleasure: Binge Watching Romance”

My new reality is coming home from work completely exhausted every day.  Fridays bring much needed relief.  It’s hard to believe that there was a time when I could easily live two lives in one day.  I used to think of it as a simple reset.   I’d work all day and then come home, change clothes, and live the life of a wife, mother, and fun-loving human being.  It was relatively easy for me to work all day at my job, then come home and cook, clean, help with homework, run off to an evening event, and even travel several times a year.  According to my closest friends, I had super-human energy.  But that was my normal.   My husband used to say, “I get tired just watching you.”  Those days are over.  Now I’m learning the skill of relaxing and retreating in order to re-charge for the next day. Continue reading “Relax, Retreat and Re-charge”

It will surely happen to each of us.  One day we will leave the land of the living.  Unlike Robin Williams, most of us will not choose the exact time and place. But some of us will see our departure coming like Senator John McCain and Aretha Franklin.  Others, like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, or Prince will leave suddenly and by surprise as a result of human frailty, poor choices and an inadequate support system.  And some, like John Lennon, Princess Diana, and Martin Luther King, Jr. will be stolen from us by depraved human beings.  Many, like Ricky Valle and Luther Vandross will be taken suddenly by dangers we haven’t yet been able to prevent.  I’ve noticed that the depth and breath of my own mourning of public figures is influenced by the time and manner in which each has passed.  And it is surprising to me which ones are the hardest. Continue reading “When Icons Die”