He is certainly an example of an adult who does not need to be liked. Ah… my heart throb, Hugh Laurie, as the brilliant but irascible Dr. House. What a delicious Saturday night I had. The doctor was in! I got a fabulous fix of one of my favorite fictional characters in all his cutting, […]
The See-Saw or the Tug-of-War?
Have you ever tried the see-saw? Do you remember the pleasure of riding up and down, up and down – but only enjoying it if your friend on the other side was of similar size and weight? When the balance is a mismatch, you are more likely to pop up in a jerky fashion (and […]
Just Say No
It’s Friday evening. My son pops into my room. I’m working on documents – there are papers and folders scattered all over the bed. “Hey Mom.” I look up. “Tomorrow night, I’m going downtown with friends.” I ask for details, and I tell him it sounds like fun. “I want to have a few people […]
Constraints and Open Spaces
I dream a problem to solve: I need a small parking area for my fleet of six jets, he tells me. I am standing in a mall lot, on the upper deck, in the middle of a city. The site includes a spiral ramp on one side, and a poorly lit corner bounded by a […]
Play Nice
What do we say to our kids when they’re bickering over nothing, but seemingly unable to stop? What do we say when they are stubborn, squawking, and convinced they are right, endlessly fuming at each other? What do we say on the playground, in the classroom, around the kitchen table, in the back seat of […]
Give Marital Advice? Who – ME?
How marital advice from a divorcée may be just what the doctor ordered.
What Makes a Woman Tick?
It’s only fair, right? Isn’t it time to examine my own side of the gender gap? So what makes a woman tick? Weird science Now why is it that when I set myself the task of elaborating on what makes a woman a woman, the first word that popped into my mind was biology. And […]
“… and the women who love them”
A literary psychologist on what makes a man tick…
The Hemingway Model: A Man’s Man
A “man’s man.” When I hear that expression, I think of Ernest Hemingway. Not of his literature, but his persona: the man who lives hard, the man who loves hard, the rugged man who can live off the land, who is unafraid to fight, who womanizes without apology. That is the Hemingway myth, or perhaps […]
Bleeding Hearts
The healthy heart Those three little words aren’t always enough. We need more than “I love you,” we need less than “I love you,” we need talking and listening and actions of give and take. The more holes punched into your heart, the more it bleeds and the less you are able to share with […]