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Love and Animals

August 24, 2016 in Cat Lady Matters, Country Matters, Essays, Quoth the Raving, Sabboytical, Snapshot, Spirit Matters

ruby redI’m trying to climb back on the grid, I really am. I’ve had my computer back for a few days and have completed all my paid assignments. But a lot has happened this month and it all boils down to my realizing how much more I want, and how much Rilke applies if I’m to achieve it.

You must change your life, said Rilke.

In the first and second and third place, I’ve grown powerfully tired of social media. I know this isn’t fair but after a time away it just seems like the worst of 20th century snail mail: chain letters, clippings from college roommates who assume they’re ranting to the choir, notes from bored aunts about everything they ate and aren’t-they-just-the-cutest kittens and babies.

I want more. I want please and thank-yous. I want diagrammable sentences rather than rebuses; polite declines rather than rebuffs. I want declarations and advance invitations and follow-up questions and direct answers. I’d wanted the Summer of Jane but at this point would settle for Dick and Jane. Or just See Spot Run. Continue Reading →

Headphone Honey

August 16, 2016 in City Matters, Country Matters, Spirit Matters

Screen Shot 2016-08-16 at 3.59.00 PMIt’s the third time it’s happened so now it qualifies as an official pattern: I return from a rural vacation only to discover that somewhere in between my car and apartment I’ve lost my headphones. In addition to being expensive, this a rueful reminder that only in the city are headphones essential gear–vital to my survival and sanity as I move through the honking, hollering, general mayhem. On the plus side: my June dove neighbor, Sweet Baby Blue, was awaiting me on the fire escape when I woke today, as smooth and serene as ever, and newly grown up. A fine ambassador to my reentry, indeed. Nature is everywhere, I guess. It’s just that in NYC we’re too inundated with human nature.

First Lady, Second Fiddle

July 28, 2016 in Country Matters, Feminist Matters

michelleAs I write this, former U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president. Melania Trump, wife of Republican nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, has monopolized national headlines for delivering a Republican National Convention speech that plagiarizes entire passages of a 2008 Democratic National Convention speech delivered by current U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. And one of the most popular video clips making social media rounds features Mrs. Obama’s car karaoke with rapper Missy Elliott and talk-show host James Corden.

This is the state of the union, as filtered through the lens of the very complex institution of the U.S. first lady. It is a telling picture because, more than any other moment in history, few agree on what should be expected of a first lady. This is also telling because, more than any other moment in history, few agree on what should be expected of women in general. For that matter, few agree on what women should expect from the world. Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy