Could Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pull Americans together? This post was born in a liquor store Don’t jump to conclusions. For the record, it was late morning and I was as sober as a judge. We’ll come back to the incident in a bit, but for now I’ll just say that it was one of those random moments when great events in the larger world bleed through into otherwise ordinary aspects of daily life. Meanwhile, it’s safe to say that we are living in unsafe times; history is engulfing us whether we want it to or not, and while life…

Life-changing new technology! Tired of trying to get a word in, ladies? Worn out by meetings where you can’t find an opening to state your thoughts because another gender keeps taking up all the verbal space? Tired of men who are perfect strangers standing outside your car as you parallel park, waving instructions at you that you didn’t ask for and don’t need? Fed up with presenting your boss with suggestions that he ignores until he hears the same idea from a male colleague? Have your words been spoken over in Zoom meetings so many times that you check your…

Suddenly Ukraine isn’t far away A time has come I never thought I’d live to see As Russian forces massed on the borders of Ukraine and Putin ginned up justifications for an unprovoked invasion, I hoped he could be edged back from the brink. I listened to President Biden’s near-daily warnings of an imminent attack on Kyiv with dread, sure, but also the hope that the repeated call-outs, the strategic intelligence spills, the warnings of sanctions, and the growing outcry among European leaders, would bring the Russian leader to his senses. My cautious hopes sank along with my stomach as…

Before it starts screaming at you Our bodies speak to us in sensations So say a number of the yoga teachers I’ve had the pleasure to study with over the years. It’s an illuminating addition to the admonition we hear all the time to “listen to your body,” and it makes sense. Our bodies, like good draft horses, do their best to follow our commands so much of the time that we take them for granted. They ask only for adequate feeding, maintenance, and rest. When something interferes with the body’s obedience, whether through illness or injury or the unreasonableness…

It seems the world went on without me Returning from vacation is weird \Getting away for longer than an extended weekend takes a lot of forethought, a lot of anticipation, a lot of fortune-telling: you will wish you’d brought that sweater; you will regret bringing those shoes; you will be approached by a stranger bearing a large fruity drink containing a tiny umbrella. There’s the locale you’re traveling to that must be considered, as well as your manner of travel, and how to maximize your enjoyment and secure your comfort in both. Excursions to plan, dinner reservations to make, inflatable…

I’m doing it right now You have at least three superpowers Assuming you are a person living in an industrialized, technically up-to-date society, you are able to do things that not so long ago in human history would have been impossible. You’ve probably lost sight of your extraordinary gifts since you use them so frequently. Let’s take the ability to exist simultaneously in more than one place at a time. This was once exclusively the purview of the gods: Apollo could steer his fiery sun chariot across the sky while simultaneously playing his lyre in the halls of Olympus. At…

Am I the only one who didn’t know? I had an entirely different post in mind, until . . . I read the most recent issue of Roxanne Gay’s addictive newsletter, The Audacious Roundup (highly recommended). One of her beguiling news tidbits this week reads: “I cannot begin to wrap my mind around this story about a studio building a film studio and sports arena in… space? WHAT? And by 2024? Sure, Jan.” Excuse me? Sure, Jan? I read further down the page; no Jans mentioned. I clicked on the link and read the article about the purported studio in space. There…

No matter your tally of birthdays Ageism = the last “ism” to be recognized In our culture — not just North America, but a whole lot of the developed world — ageism is so ingrained that it’s easy to miss. We’re so used to it that we don’t even see it when it’s right there in front of us. Take for example, the image under the subtitle of this post. I searched on my favorite royalty-free sites, using the keywords “happy old person” or “laughing old person.” I wanted to find something that portrayed someone who was undeniably and unapologetically…

It’s BYOT — Bring your own toy There’s an unofficial dog park on our block It’s really just a large lawn, mostly flat but sloping gently toward the middle, originally put there by the developers as an aesthetic way to handle drainage. It’s bounded by streets on two sides, by an alley on one, and by an expanse of cattail-studded brush on the other, the haven of red-tailed blackbirds and white-tailed deer that stretches between the outskirts of our neighborhood and the river. In practice, though, it’s a community recreation center. It’s where kids build tepees out of dry cattail…