They designed the plague so women would be too exhausted for rage. Staying angry enough to act takes enormous reserves of both energy and desperation. Those are the first two sentences of […]
What If We Stayed Angry?
Don’t Look Back
There was once a time when I did not live without the specter of illness around every corner? I lived a life that wasn’t conditional on the spread of a virus? I spent almost five decades making plans that weren’t likely to be cancelled anywhere, any time, with little notice, because of a nasal-swabbed test result? Could it be true?
The Insider: A Gloom of One’s Own
“The neighbors lost their white cat,” my husband said, “maybe you could keep an eye out for it.” “Sure,” I said, “if it walks by the couch, I’ll certainly alert someone.” The […]
Lessons from Nana
In 1918, my great-grandmother, Frances Pengelski, was married with two babies under two years old, living in relative poverty in Brooklyn. I was fortunate to know my nana well. The year I […]
Doing the Dishes at 50 or How to Change Your Perspective on the Mundane
My niece is 22 years old. She has Cystic Fibrosis. Ginny’s life has bent towards a timeline. When she was born, CF patients lived until they were 14. When she was 14, the […]
The No Poo Chronicles: My Fight Against Shampoo Absolutism
First, Backstory In the first minutes of a writer’s conference in NYC last September, I met an editor who changed my relationship with my own head. Editors have rearranged my head space […]
The Gloria Sirens 