I’ve accompanied John on his business trip to San Francisco this week, and while he’s been in marathon meetings, I’m checking out the city, meeting friends, eating the tea leaf salad at Burma Superstar or just enjoying the view from the 32nd floor of our hotel, with its panorama of the financial district, … Read more

In Kahil Gibran’s piece, “On Joy and Sorrow,” he says, Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter arises was oftentimes filled with your tears. How else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.   I’d read that passage … Read more

  This is a photograph on my wall. It’s on my birthday, ten years ago. I’m with my friend, Haydee, who passed away a week and a half or so later. She’d been fighting ovarian cancer for five years. Haydee had been fighting something else for much longer, maybe her entire life. She fought against … Read more

Some are calling this “the year of the woman.” I would love for it to be the year of “eyes wide open.” The year when, collectively, we stop looking the other way, stop accepting bad behavior as just “boys-will-be-boys.”   A group of women in Paris have denounced the #metoo movement. I just don’t get … Read more

    On my mother-in-law Sandy’s wall, there’s a sign that says, “Do one thing every day that makes you happy.” Other than giving me permission to eat gnocchi every day, this inspires me to go a little deeper than pleasing my tongue and tummy every day with tiny potato dumplings.   After I crawl … Read more

  I love Oprah because, well, Oprah. I loved her before but like many, I was deeply moved by her acceptance speech last night. After the video montage of her accomplishments, I thought, Whoa, this woman has a legit legacy. But in her acceptance speech, rather than bask in the glory of her accomplishments and … Read more

  I hate name tags. I’ll put one on at an event if I must, though if I do, it will eventually, accidentally on purpose fall off (faulty adhesive or . . . whatever). While I typically am pretty good at understanding why I feel a certain way, I don’t know why I loathe the … Read more

  I saw this face for the first time in a Kansas field, in 1976:   “The summer following my freshman year, I was at a church camp in Wichita, Kansas, and was walking alone, crossing a field. I spotted someone coming in my direction, also alone. As this person got closer, I could see … Read more

    I’m not trying to pick on a gender when I say, “nice guys, powerful guys, smart guys” and now, as of breaking news today, “funny guys.” I’m just looking at statistics when I say guys. I know cancer is not limited to one gender. And there’s nothing funny about it.   We’ve been … Read more

(Warning: Parental guidance suggested. Frightening images.)     So as not to disturb, a fine gentleman and his respectful wife tip-toe in through the back door of a community meeting already underway. The group of at least a couple hundred people are seated in circular formation. There appears to be no open seats, so the … Read more