The pressure of making each minute count Retirement is great. I took a nap yesterday afternoon, which will not be strange to many of you. But I feel like the countdown clock is running. None of us know how many … Read More
Power and aging, vulnerability and wisdom I liked power. I still like it, I just don’t have many venues. When I was working, I managed small health and human service organizations (under 50 employees), and then I managed up to 250 … Read More
Her books have never been out of print Elizabeth Custer leaned against the window of the train rolling over the prairies east of Bismarck, Dakota Territory. She watched the dust and trailing herd of buffalo moving across the horizon. She … Read More
For any nattering nabobs of negativity… The public reading was unrelentingly grim. Very good writing, perhaps, but the two readers’ subject matters were child abuse, death, and an apocalyptic view of global warming. They should have served cyanide-laced Kool-Aid at … Read More
The social media for dinosaurs I am announcing a new social media site called Pterodactyl. It’s for the dinosaurs among us who wish our words could fly. I am a technology dinosaur. If you can remember your password, this site is … Read More
Let’s claim the fall equinox for falling fertility. Easter is only named Easter in English-speaking traditions. Pascha is the root name for the spring Christian holiday in most other cultures, originally meaning Passover, from the Jewish tradition. Why do we call Easter by that … Read More
Have you taken the Blue Zones Vitality Test? I took the Blue Zones Vitality Test. You can too, right here: Blue Zones Vitality Test. Full disclosure: I will turn 70 this year, and I got back from the doctor’s office, had … Read More
Schroeder helped enact laws to support equality Pat Schroeder sat in the small living room of a house in Denver, a meet-the-new-congresswoman event in 1973. She had just been elected to the House of Representatives at age 32, two years … Read More
Or is philosophy an excuse for laziness? My lasting impression of the sun setting into the Aegean Sea on Santorini Island in Greece is hundreds of cellphones raised high to get the perfect shot. I started to do the same … Read More
Who was your best writing teacher? When I meet old high school friends, we all agree that we were lucky to have had great high school teachers. The legendary teachers were English staff. We benefited from the days before women … Read More