The new year has always seemed a lot like a beginning of winter, or mid-winter celebration. It does not occur at a time reckoned by natural seasons or lunar cycles. It roughly, inexactly, pays tribute to the solar year. It happens at the beginning of a month because, like most things, a man said that […]
Women Who Left Us in 2017
We lost so many strong, even iconic, women in 2017. And so many of them received little to no public media attention in this year of seemingly non-stop discussion about men. Maggie Roche, of the Roche Sisters, left us at age 65 in January. Here’s the NYT article briefly chronicling her music career. Mary Tyler […]
Clever Gifts Of Storytelling Grandmas
I hope you will consider how the gifts you choose for grandchildren, nieces, and nephews build relationships and generate storytelling, sharing, and yes, even learning. Updated for 2017 Originally posted October 22nd, 2015 Disclosure: Gabrielle Polt Balkan, author of The 50 States is my step-daughter. Other than parental pride per the atlas, and the Amazon […]
When Christmas is Sad
My Take on Holiday Sadness A huge hurt builds inside me. My father died on Christmas Day 1986. It is a familiar, old hurt. This past year freshly layered that hurt with new hurts and loss. All four of my brothers have passed on. One in 1998, another in 2005. Mom died in […]
Giving Beyond The Boxed Gift
This time of year makes me think of gifts and what women are giving to the next generation. This year, 2017, has been an extremely tumultuous time. To use a kitchen and baking metaphor our cultural batter is being is being whipped up, over-beaten, into a flat mess that may have a difficult time […]
Christmas Music
We all have our favorite music. But when it comes to Holiday music, I have found that people have very strong preferences. I have seen perfectly innocuous Gene Autry Christmas compilations drive 20-somethings up the wall after a mere two play-throughs. Alvin […]