An essay titled “The Headscarf as a Feminist Statement,” caught my eye the other day. Nadiya Takolia had written a spirited defense of her right to wear the hijab, an Islamic scarf that conceals a woman’s hair yet leaves her face exposed. She calls her decision a radical act bec

I walked home in a light drizzle the other day after a delightful coffee with a former student.  He’s in his mid-50’s and proud of his first grandchild, a girl name Jefri.  He didn’t much care for the name, but, of course, he had no say in the matter.  I’ve read a few studi

I never expected to be a cover girl.  Now I am.  A former political colleague, Jewel Lansing, has written a book — Multnomah:  The Tumultuous Story of Oregon’s Most Populous County.  As a former commissioner, I, along with others, appear on the jacket.  Jewel co-authored

A friend sent me a blog recently by Dr. Mark Allen Sircus.  He was writing on the importance of being a good listener.  By that he didn’t mean to sit quietly.  Sitting quietly allows the mind to go on speaking to itself.  No, he was talking about being open to ideas that are for

A few weeks ago, I was watching an interview on PBS with Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for her novel Beloved, a story about a runaway slave, who, after 18 years is still tortured by her past. Morrison’s newest book, Home, was out in May, a tale concerning another tortured

Hello, friends! I’m in the process of tweaking a new website.. but a new version of Caroline Miller Write Away is ready to go. Beginning Monday, June 2, you’ll be able to see new content at a new address: https://booksbycarolinemiller.com/blog/ Take a look! Tell me what you think.

According to book promoters, now is the time for all good men and women to go to a book fair. The sun is shining, the weekend stretches ahead like a desert highway under a clear blue sky. Monday seems eons away. Yet as a writer, I’ve never participated in a book fair and never plan

Shakespeare got it right, again. Our fate lies not in our stars but in ourselves.The new book by Jonathan Haidt, “The Righteous Mind,” discusses the latest findings in brain research. Genes, it appears, contribute to every aspect of our personalities and several genes make the dif

The other day, I shared an article with a friend who is interested in lucid dreaming: the ability to take over our dreams and create adventures while we are asleep.   According to recent research, people who manage lucid dreaming best are those who play video games. (“5 Mind-Bend

I came across three articles with advice that seemed to move in opposite directions, recently. Two were reprints on Facebook. The first was about the trend among college students to view education as a pragmatic means to an end: good paying jobs. The second article centered on the a