Chilly Scenes of Wintour—when the Shadow and the Mother are One

September 23, 2009

With two boys, twelve and fifteen, I would not have guessed that they’d be interested to go see “September Edition,” a documentary about Anna Wintour and putting together Vouge’s annual cash cow/glamour bible.  But kids keep us guessing, and they keep us on our toes. The first reason they wanted to see “September Edition” was […]

Read the full article…

So long Persephone, see you in the spring…

September 22, 2009

Today marks the autumn equinox (which means “equal night”), and while it depends on how far above or below the equator you are, the concept is of the time when there are just about twelve hours of day and twelve of night.  The equinox is also the halfway point between the summer solstice—the longest day […]

Read the full article…

Can I get a life line?

September 21, 2009

Imagine if you knew what you know now, and were suddenly your child’s age once again?  Most of us former clueless nerds would rule the school, based purely on our hard-won wisdom about how insecure everyone else actually is (not to mention how much more lovable our past selves are to us now, compared to […]

Read the full article…

Native American Spirit

September 20, 2009

On my recent summer holiday we visited my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in a small town in Northern California.  We love going up there where you sit on the porch and read, swim at the river and walk down to the candy shop after dinner, my kids have grown up going there and it’s home away […]

Read the full article…

Bread, stones and water

September 19, 2009

The ocean refuses no river.  Whatever religion you may, or may not, follow, as we humans evolve toward a more unified understanding of our situation here on planet earth, we might borrow from each other’s myths and traditions to celebrate our unique diversity as well as our collective unity.  The world is both a paradise […]

Read the full article…

News flash: I’ve stopped following Oprah on Twitter

September 18, 2009

I know it’s crazy, but I did it for my kids.  This was a tough decision for me, as I admire Oprah and think she embodies the current archetype of the Great Mother in our culture.  Yet I have to put the well-being of my children, and all our children, ahead of pathetic, and misguided, […]

Read the full article…

What’s it all about, Alfie?

September 17, 2009

Alfie Kohn is a great champion of unconditional love (and also of Carl Rogers’ emphasis on accepting kids, and others, for who they are rather than shaping them into who, or what, we might want them to be).  In a recent piece in the New York Times he cites research to support his assertions that […]

Read the full article…

Trickster Chronicles—Why Kids Lie

September 16, 2009

The vast majority of kids lie.  They lie for a lot of different reasons, but the main reason that we want to take a look at in terms of parenting is the fact that the vast majority of parents lie—and that’s where the kids learn not just to do it, but also to use it […]

Read the full article…

Learning how to quarrel well—a key to a good marriage

September 15, 2009

Life is unfair for everyone in some way or another, and on this, the 19th anniversary of my wedding, I realize that I have been unfairly fortunate in love. I first met my wife at a screening of a Fellini film, Fred and Ginger, at The Lincoln Center in New York.  It was a blustery […]

Read the full article…

Why some women tell their birth horror stories to pregnant women

September 14, 2009

For some reason, pregnant women are often an open invitation for other women to spontaneously share their own experience around birth and delivery—particularly their horror stories about everything that went wrong and how awful it was.  In the spirit of compassion, we might ask ourselves why this is, and also what to do about it? […]

Read the full article…

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →