…I’ve wanted to love it. It just sucked. My mom’s love language must be gifts (based on things more than just Christmas). There were always piles of stuff for my brother, sister, and I to open, each in a different color paper. My earliest Christmas memory, I was 7 or 8. We had ripped through … Read more
TED has started a new podcast series called TED Interviews, where Chris Anderson interviews people who have give TED talks about their talks, and they get more in depth. I haven’t quite listened to all of them, but all that I’ve listened to have been captivating. (As of this writing, there are only six of … Read more
When you are Other in your family—for whatever reason—holidays are stressful. I always felt trapped on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because “the holidays are about family” but my family was toxic. There was nowhere else to go when I was living at home, and it took me moving across the country to be able to set … Read more
I listened to Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown. (OK, I listened to part of it. But audiobooks and I have a complicated relationship, and I didn’t finish it before it was due back at the library.) Given my unpleasant relationship with my family of origin, this quote spoke to me. There is something comforting … Read more
I hope that one day, I can tell my grandkids about what I went through for treatment for lymphoma, and they can look at me wide-eyed, staring in disbelief at how archaic the treatments were. In the mean time, for the too many people I know (and countless more I don’t know) who are fighting … Read more
As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, I’ve been reading and listening to a fair amount of Seth Godin lately. He ends his podcasts with “Go make a ruckus.” In other words, take what you have to offer, and offer it. Another piece of that, though, is that work that isn’t good won’t spread. (Lots … Read more
Without getting into debate (right now) about what should be taught or how it should be taught (I have a lot of opinions on those pieces), EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT. We have taken education for granted. For so long, people have just gone to school. It doesn’t directly cost anything. We complain about this teacher or … Read more
Seth Godin had a blog post yesterday, talking about daily blogging. I thought… I might be able to write daily. And I suppose if I’m not concerned with what anyone thinks, I could publish daily. I definitely have enough thoughts to fill a little bit of space daily. Or to average out to daily. It … Read more
When I got married the first time, my mom gave me an earful for not registering for towels. “Towels make good gifts,” she said. But he and I were both adults, combining independent households (we both owned our own places at that point), and we had more than enough towels. And we had received good-quality … Read more
