Tom Haines Jay Walks Again

I have reluctantly placed Tom at 305 West End Assisted Living on the locked 6th floor. . . . → Read More: Tom Haines Jay Walks Again

Review of: These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class, by Wendy Sanford

I picked up the new book of my college classmate, Wendy Sanford, and immediately found myself plunged into some of the contradictions of my own life. Like me, Wendy came from a wealthy family totally, obliviously, dependent on the “help.” Like me, she grew from taking that arrangement for granted, to a cringing awareness and a confused determination to break the pattern. . . . → Read More: Review of: These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class, by Wendy Sanford

The 7 Secrets of the Prolific

If you’re like me, you always wanted to be a writer—but obligations came first: family, friends, bosses, students, bills, good causes. Recently, I grumbled about my lack of productivity to my editor Chris Sturr at Dollars & Sense magazine. He sent me The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block by Hillary Rettig. . . . → Read More: The 7 Secrets of the Prolific

David and Goliath, or Why the One Percent Has to Rig the System

Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller, David and Goliath, asks how and why the weak win far more often than we expect. What characteristics of the weak can sometimes make them strong? What characteristics of the powerful can often make them vulnerable? For a long-time inequality buff like me, Gladwell provides some new insights. . . . → Read More: David and Goliath, or Why the One Percent Has to Rig the System

Pearidge, Trauma ; 99 to 1; and The Self-Made Myth

My brother and I turn, and there is my husband Tom, crumpled in the gutter, a pool of blood spreading under his head. Call 911! In five minutes, there are – count them – three police cars, two fire engines, and a passing Good Samaritan doctor. . . . → Read More: Pearidge, Trauma ; 99 to 1; and The Self-Made Myth

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert

My mother is eighty-six. Other than needing a walker, she’s in good shape. Two months ago my father fell, confining him to bed on the top floor of their three-story townhouse. With my encouragement, my parents put a deposit on an apartment in Grand Oaks, a posh “assisted living” complex for well-to-do Washingtonians. But as . . . → Read More: Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert

The Drug War Comes Home

My father is 96. A month ago, he shuffled around the house, up and down the stairs, quite well by himself. Then, as he puts it, “I fell on my arse!” Oops! Compression fracture of the spine. Treatment: pain killers and bed rest. But, if he is ever to walk again, he must get up . . . → Read More: The Drug War Comes Home

School Choice: A Lesson from New Zealand

I have long supported school choice–confined to public schools. My son attended primary and middle school in District Three on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. District schools are subdivided into small units, each with its own program and principal, competing to attract students from all of Manhattan. At IS 44 on west 77th Street, . . . → Read More: School Choice: A Lesson from New Zealand