The Atlanta Review has published my poem, “Persia”, about a region that has been largely destroyed by ongoing wars and yet is among the world’s most beautiful, in terms of its landscape and rich cultural history, particularly its poetic tradition. Today, 1,600 miles away, in another country with a beautiful national heritage, Ukrainians are being brutally and senselessly attacked and killed. So many lives shattered. For what? So much continuing bloodshed. My poem contains a fervent wish to end all wars, as well as a salute to people’s ongoing resilience in the face of them. More background ..read more

I am thrilled that one of my photos was included in the exhibit ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. The show ran from Oct. 1, 2020, to Jan. 4, 2021, and featured photos from more than 65 countries, in response to events of this tumultuous time—a global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and similar movements, the effects of climate change, the U.S. presidential elections and many more events that were felt and depicted in ways both epic and very personal. My photo (above), “Golden Gate Market, 8:15 a.m. Sausalito, CA”, was ..read more

When many schools across the U.S. announced that they would continue to rely on distance learning, at least partially, until schools are able to reopen safely, some parents, especially those with means, went into overdrive to organize small-group “pods” for learning and socialization. It’s hard to cast aspersions on any parent, most of whom are already profoundly stretched by juggling the demands of work, household, children and school during this extraordinary time. Yet, a sad consequence of the pods, some of which are able to hire tutors, is that they will further exacerbate the yawning equi ..read more

When the calendar turned to April, two weeks into the shelter-in-place order that had become the new normal, I decided to take a break from work and leave the house for something other than a walk around my neighborhood or the weekly trip to the market. I would visit one neighborhood over, and I would drive. Simply starting the car and backing it out of the garage were revelatory activities, behaviors from another life. There was my winter coat, in the back seat, where I’d left it. There were my notebooks and reusable grocery bags. I briefly rolled down the car window to breathe the fresh spri ..read more

In his New Yorker essay Take the F, Ian Frazier describes life in his Brooklyn neighborhood and building, before relaying the story of a neighbor who had taken ill. While she was in the hospital, the whole building was “expectant, spooky, quiet”. The neighbor finally returned, pale but on the mend. In celebration, Frazier “walked to the garden, seeing glory everywhere.” He “took a big Betsy McCall rose to (his) face and breathed into it as if it were an oxygen mask.” I read this essay 25 years ago, and I still think about its life-affirming qualities often. I look forward to once again ..read more

Italians, under siege from coronavirus, began taking to their balconies and windows, at an appointed hour each night, to serenade one another with their national anthem. It was a show of solidarity, something to provide uplift in these brutal times. Residents in Chicago followed suit, singing a city-wide version of Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer. In Dallas, people sang Bill Withers’ Lean on Me in unison. In Brussels, Seattle, New York, Medellín–in places all over the globe–people started standing on balconies and doorsteps and clapping to applaud health-care workers, often at 8 p.m., local time ..read more

Coronavirus is changing the lives of everyone on the planet. In addition to impacting day-to-day lifestyles and habits, cancelling large events and closing schools, the health crises is making many aware or newly aware of our interconnectedness and dependency on one another for health and safety. This time may be particularly challenging for parents: School, job and other routines are disrupted, and it can be difficult to strike a balance between managing our own needs and anxieties with those of our kids. We’re also, by necessity, having to slow down and get creative with the way we’re spendi ..read more

Half the fun of family travel is “getting there”, right? Whether you’re embarking on a Great American Road or Train Trip, or merely hoping to get from Point A to Point B with your humor intact, a few tips and classic travel games will surely make the going more pleasant. Family Travel Tips Involve kids in the planning or have them follow the trip’s progress on a map. If you’re an AAA member, maps are free. Some kids may want to keep a trip journal and add photos when they get home. Have food and drinks on hand, if possible, and take frequent breaks to eat, use restrooms, or just stretch your ..read more

I first learned about Pi Day when my daughter was in Middle School. I wondered where this day had been my whole life! Now a global tradition almost 30 years old, Pi Day is best celebrated at 1:59 p.m. on March 14 to match the first few digits of the number Pi (and the extent of most people’s memorization, 3.14159), with a pie, of course – savory or dessert version. Math moment: What is Pi anyway? Ahem – Pi is the number expressing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s used in engineering, science and statistics and begins with 3.14 and goes on into infinity. It’s also ca ..read more

When Benjamin Franklin wrote An Economical Project, his 1794 discourse in which he proposed the idea that would become our current Daylight Saving Time, it probably didn’t occur to him that the world would be using his system of adjusting human activities to maximize natural daylight more than 200 years later. It also probably didn’t occur to him that others would take so long to embrace it. Attempts to legislate Daylight Saving were still widely ridiculed at the beginning of the 20th century. (It took the energy needs of WWI for many to finally enact them.) Standard times, brought about in t ..read more