Archive for July, 2011

the narrow space between interference and intervention.

We have all watched the dissolution of people. Some in our families or among our friends, wondering whether or when to step in, navigating the tiny space between interference and intervention. And some in the world of celebrities, watching them wax and wane inside People magazine, participating in their demise by our curiosity it seems. Lindsay Lohan, for example,…
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real women play the tuba

I think you know how much I love my daughters. And how much I love the fact that Emma is fully committed to playing an instrument twice her size. She has asked me over the years to ask readers to support her efforts to raise money for abused horses or buy new band uniforms for her high school, and I…
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the last puzzle piece.

My friend Nina died a year ago today. To say "I miss her" does not suffice. She was one of the funniest people I have ever known–laconic, sardonic, dry–as well as one of the wisest, and one of the most ornery. I spent that weekend with her, unknowing, fearing, and yet walking toward her. When the nurses needed to be…
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for what or for whom do you grieve?

This weekend is the one-year anniversary of the weekend I spent with my friend, Nina, while she died. Three nights. And a year ago, I had my hardest night this evening, as she frantically tried to tell me something, her voice gone, her ability to write gone. Just a wisp of a person after being ravaged by Lou Gehrig's disease,…
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you’re a writer. now get to Boston and write.

(I'm unsure how to sync up my voice with my mouth in this video, so just imagine that I'm speaking in Russian on the video and that you're hearing the English translation! Also not sure why it chops off before the end. Should end with "I'd love to see you there!") I'm honored to teach with Susan Piver and Jen…
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thinking thursday.

(My dog, Blue. He's thinking.) I've been missing Thinking Thursday. You? Let's think again. Every Thursday, at the very least. [mind] James Franco gives off an interesting vibe in this interview. Interesting in a slightly paranoid way? Not sure how to describe it. Do iPads cause religious experiences? On understanding the brain. Disaster theology: blame and powerlessness in Japan….
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