Published in Crow’s Feet·Apr 7The Secret to LongevityStaying, healthy, happy, and living longer — Today is my wedding anniversary. It’s a pretty big number, and that amazes me. That we have survived together this long is an accomplishment, particularly after the forced togetherness of the pandemic. All those nights of having dinner together — hundreds of dinners in a row because we had nothing…Aging4 min read
Mar 26A Coming of Age StoryYou choose the ending — Life in my parents’ generation — in the 50s and 60s — was a pretty straight shot. It consisted of school, work, marriage, kids, retirement and old age. Today our trajectory is anything but straightforward. Take millennials; they live longer with their parents (I still have one at home), have…Age4 min read
Published in Inspired Writer·Feb 25Digging Deep to WriteConfronting our stories — Writing stories about any part of your life is similar to extreme sports as far as I am concerned. Most of us have tangled and complicated lives and I am full of admiration for authors of memoirs and personal stories who try to confront what the hell happened in theirs. …Writing4 min read
Published in Crow’s Feet·Jan 24Walking into the Best YearsThe truths about aging to embrace — It feels like yesterday I was twenty years old. And all of a sudden, the cashier at the grocery store assumes — correctly — that I am eligible for their senior discount for home delivery. I walk to the grocery store — forty minutes each way to get my exercise…Aging5 min read
Published in Crow’s Feet·Dec 20, 2021Feasting On MemoriesIt’s that time of year — For many years, “home for the holidays” meant returning to the small town where I was born and raised. I returned there to celebrate Christmas with my parents. I drove, flew, took a train, and once, still in my teens, I even hitchhiked. …Memories5 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Dec 17, 2021Even Kids in Grade 3 Know This Is WrongIt’s time for the adults to do something — Why has a much-loved Grade 3 teacher named Fatemeh Anvari — teaching in a small bucolic Quebec town north of Canada’s capital — lost her job? Because she wore a hijab, the head-covering Muslim women wear. Under Bill 21, in the province of Quebec, no public servant working with the…Culture4 min read
Published in The Haven·Dec 5, 2021The Best Smoked Meat Sandwich in the WorldSome things never change — I am not going to indulge in the smoked meat vs pastrami debate. Schwartz’s on Saint-Laurent Blvd, in Montreal, has arguably the best smoked meat sandwich in the world and leaves any pastrami sandwich available in the dust. This is not only my opinion, millions who have eaten this sandwich…Montreal4 min read
Published in BeingWell·Oct 18, 2021What If Only Children Were Affected by Covid?The response from the vaccine-hesitant would be different — What if at the start of the Covid pandemic, kids were more at risk instead of elderly vulnerable adults living in long-term care facilities or nursing homes? I recently wrote an article speculating on if were any lessons to be learned from the Polio epidemic. In that piece, I said…Polio3 min read
Published in Crow’s Feet·Oct 8, 2021Did We Learn Anything From the Polio Epidemic?It took decades to eradicate — I was born at the height of the polio epidemic. Public health officials quarantined homes and towns where the poliovirus was diagnosed. Frantic mothers, crazy with worry, kept their children indoors. Concerned parents warned their kids not to use public toilets, drink from water fountains, or use payphones. Public swimming…Science5 min read
Published in Politically Speaking·Sep 21, 2021Why This Understated History Professor Deserves a FanclubHeather Cox Richardson is a rock star in my books — In the darkest and most dysfunctional days of the Trump administration, when the news was wilder and crazier than the most intense Hollywood political TV drama or tawdry reality TV show, Letters From an American was born. On September 15, 2019, Heather Cox Richardson, an American History professor, posted a…Politics4 min read
