The other day I received a rejection letter for a short story I’d submitted to a major publication. I assume the editor was being kind when he reminded me that regardless of the merit of my work, I was competing with world famous writers for a single slot in that monthly periodical.

Ever heard of the Danube 7? I hadn’t though I pride myself in being alert to women’s issues. The Danube 7 are Catholic women who felt they were called to the priesthood. They took the same training as their male counterparts and were ordained by church bishops who had the power to

I’m one of those fossils who believes “feminist” is a good word. That’s why I couldn’t resist an invitation to attend a “Lean-In Circle,” recently. A group of professional women were meeting to discuss Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In and to talk about her views on why

The bombings at the Boston Marathon raise a central question. Why, after centuries of fruitless war and genocide, does the human race continue to use violence as a means to settle conflict? Women are less inclined to employ it, but they are by no means immune, (“An Appetite for Aggr

Last week, (5/9), I wrote that a squirrel had chewed through a power line outside my home, creating a huge electrical surge. I don’t know what became of the squirrel but it fried much of my electronic equipment. As I complained then, reading the manuals that came with the replacemen

It had to happen. I forgot my password on a financial account and had to create a new one. The young man who helped me closed off our conversation with the admonition, “Now that you can access your money again, don’t start spending it.”  I laughed because at my age I don’t ha

Sometime ago, I ranted about complicated tech manuals that require consumers to have a degree in engineering to use. Of late, I’ve had to read a few more of these publications because squirrels demolished the utility wires that feed electricity into my house and my electronic device

When I was ten, I broke a glass coffee table in the small apartment where my mother and I lived. Horrified, I covered the crack with a book, foolishly hoping it would never be moved and my carelessness would never be revealed. Unfortunately, my mother discovered the damage as soon as

“Most American high schools are almost sadistically unhealthy places to send adolescents,” writes Jennifer Senior for New York magazine (http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/ze. Jan 20, 2013.) One reason, according to sociologist Robert Fari, who is quoted in the arti

I met with a group of friends for brunch recently. Several of them are in their sixties and worried about their weight. One friend announced he’d given up sugar to lose pounds, so I directed him to a good book called The Yeast Connection by William G. Crook. Crook talks about sugar