Just over two weeks till Christmas, and I haven’t trimmed the tree or hung the lights, but I’m getting into the holiday spirit. Next week I’ll have my brand-new dentures—the best Christmas present I could imagine, and I’m grateful to my husband for footing the cost, since our insurance doesn’t cover it. I’m looking forward to… [Read More]
Rebooting the New Year
I don’t know about you, but for me, this winter has been a washout. I survived the holidays, but I couldn’t get it together to make New Year’s resolutions, much less follow them. My creativity has been in hibernation, but now that the days are getting longer, I’m feeling stirrings of new life. And Daylight… [Read More]
Christmas Consumption–remember when we shopped till we dropped?
I wrote this poem four years ago, in 2017. I never dreamed how drastically my habits as a consumer would change in a single year, but Covid-19 has utterly destroyed the joy I used to take in spending. Not just in shopping, but in so much more—dining out in restaurants, going to movies, and most… [Read More]
Mania at Regeneron: how my temp job at the dawn of the new millennium drove me crazy
I sent this piece to the Albany Times Union a week ago in hopes they’d run it on their editorial page, but they haven’t published it. I suspect they won’t, because Trump’s never never land evolves with breakneck speed, and Regeneron is no longer front-page news. So here it is: I’m glad to see Regeneron… [Read More]
It’s the end of the world as we know it–so we might as well party
Back in the early 1960’s, I never imagined I’d live to turn 30. The threat of nuclear annihilation loomed over the planet. In high school, I’d been subjected to those ridiculous drills when we crouched under our desks, as if that would somehow save us from Communist bombs raining down and incinerating us. In my… [Read More]
Be Here Now–good pandemic advice from Baba Ram Dass
Be Here Now. The title of Baba Ram Dass’s 1971 book became the catch phrase for millions of westerners seeking enlightenment through eastern spiritual practices, including yoga and meditation. But being in the present moment, letting go of the past and future, has always been challenging to me—until now, in the age of COVID-19. Over… [Read More]