Over the past few years, my research has taught me many things. What comes to mind are the people I encountered who had a keen sense of identity that made them resilient after defeat and steady at the crossroads. They taught me so much about life. In reflecting on 2020,...
General
Reading: In My Kitchen-Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
Alison Roman kept me cooking through COVID. I love that her savory food and sassy style are all served from her bare-bones Brooklyn kitchen. She’s built a following of Millennials hungry for doable ways to host dinners, and foodies like me who are fed up with prim perfectionism of oh,...
Reading: On My Nightstand-Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow’s spanking new novel Attack Surface is the latest addition to his dystopian Little Brother novels. First, I downloaded the audio book as part of Cory’s Kickstarter campaign. Later, I felt compelled to pick up the hardcopy to bring to the woodsy wi-fi deserts I escape to when I...
Identity Burn Out and the Digital You
Yesterday I was looking back at some old blog posts from 2002, my first year of blogging. At the time blogging platforms were next to nonexistent, so I took to pasting my posts onto webpages like a dork. In 2007 I shifted to WordPress, and in 2008 my book RenGen:...
Year in Review: How to Write a More Magical Story of Your Life
Every day, we are writing the story of our lives. We don’t always think of it that way. Life happens to us. We get busy. Before we know it, we are signing holiday cards and decking the halls. Creating a richer, more vivid story requires that we first look backward,...
Resolutions, Self-determination, and What Makes a Change Stick
I’ve been setting and forgetting resolutions my whole life. Like most people, I’ve had mixed results. Like the year I got incredibly fit and lost 40 pounds after I turned 50. Or the time I found a beautiful little house in a good area that I could actually afford. Or...
The Rising LGBTQ Tide and Millennial Voters
I don’t usually cover politics. I prefer to write about people and things that change the culture. Spring means commencement speeches, and often politicians pop up to give them, including Vice President Mike Pence. I love following college graduations because they offer a rare snap shot into what’s trending as...
Home Front: To My Thoreau Delight
Sometime in 2017, my husband and I decided to look for a home in the woods. After months of fruitless searching, we nearly gave up. Shortly after we agreed to end the struggle, our realtor shot us a must-see listing. Yes! We made it ours. It’s a mid-century modern gem...
News: Trend Report will be a Video Series!
After 9 years, I’m excited to announce that beginning in January, the new format for our popular Trend Report will be a video series. Change is good. After all, does anyone really need a giant sheaf of written findings to add to their monstrous stack of things to read? We...