Observations of an Octogenarian Optimist — 1 — Start positive. Finding one hopeful thing to focus on can kick-start anybody’s day, especially when there’s not a lot of hopeful going around. Finders keepers. 2 — Pay attention to Mother Nature. The planet needs help: turn off the water, turn the thermostat down if it’s winter and…

The sky is falling! Breaking news! Our fragile democracy in peril!! Life still feels shaky. Even without those constant, frenetic tweets threatening to alter the course of world events in moments, truth competes with fake news. Long-established rights and laws are questioned — or disappear before our eyes. American democracy…

This essay appears on the blog page of End of Life Choices CA, a nonprofit which I am proud to serve as a volunteer and board member. Perhaps you’ll visit the site, or at least find a little food for thought here. When is being comfortable and pain-free not a…

Nearly 70 years ago I survived an amateur abortion. On a kitchen table in a drab house in a down-at-the-heels neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. On a dreary February morning, the loneliest day of my life. Victim of workplace rape by a prominent man who had enormous power over me, I…

I’m a little worried about Nasty winning out over Nice — A recent Miss Manners column — you DO follow Miss Manners, don’t you? — featured her response to a Gentle Reader who had been called out for being, well, too polite. This was because Gentle Reader delivered a cupcake with an apology for a minor misdeed. Excuse me? If only…

Indeed! September 17th it is — Want to join the celebration? It requires nothing but a pause. Constitution & Citizenship Day celebrates the United States Constitution, which was signed on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. Along with the Bill of Rights, it’s the foundation of our democracy. There’s a fascinating history of the celebration, including “I…

Yearning for the Mickey Mouse watch of yore — I just wanted a teeny tiny fix. Uh oh. The Watch doesn’t do teeny tiny. The Watch — which knows if I fall down, which is why I gave in to my children’s urging and got the latest iteration — wants you to have the whole effing world on your…

Memories of Marrakesh, and the enchanting, ancient Medina — May it survive the devastating earthquake — I never really learned my way around. But my brief stay in the Medina — ancient center of mesmerizing Marrakesh — was a time apart. A chance to live where people had lived and died, worked, played, loved and shared their stories for centuries. Our AirB&B, a dozen turns into…

Really folks, talking about dying won’t kill you — I did my end-of-life options talk thing again yesterday, and nobody died. This time it was for residents in my senior living place — I call it the Geezer House because why not use appropriate language all around? It is appropriate to talk about dying stuff, even if you’re not…