I was struck by it. How easy it must be. Surely, they have worries – just not the same ones that I do. Or you do. Not the concerns of the single mothers I have known – the logistical nightmares dealing with an uncooperative or unavailable ex, the fatigue that never seems to dissipate no […]
Anger or Impotence
While visions of Reality TV and sexual athletics may be dancing through my head in the early a.m. – as I am extricating myself from dreams – within a few minutes of brewing my coffee and scanning a few headlines, other thoughts quickly take precedence. In keeping with yesterday’s theme – the “human” side of […]
Data Data Everywhere, If We Hear It – Should We Care?
Ah, the delights of data. Numbers transformed into trends, figures forwarded along into carefully constructed quasi-truths, and their inaccurate or incomplete essence, affirming our opinions, substantiating our deepest fears, undermining our confidence in… oh, just about anything. Does anyone use common sense anymore? Data data everywhere, if we hear it – should we care? I […]
Stilled By the State of My World
She rarely speaks, usually nodding her head and smiling. This morning she talked to me, loading my weekly groceries into the trunk. Her English is poor, but comprehensible. She looked troubled. My Neighbor, Myself She has been working as a bagger at my local supermarket for 10 years. She is a single mother, mid-thirties. Her […]
Did you fall to Black Friday? Did you succumb to Cyber Monday?
I’m all for stimulating growth. Boosting GNP. Or GDP. Or the S&P! Spending, by any other name… especially at holiday time. But not when you don’t have the bucks! Hey – I’m just like everyone else. The credit cards get plenty of action when I can’t cover expenses any other way. Sadly (or thankfully), that […]
Cookies and Cake – Cash or Credit?
What did you buy at the grocery store this week? How did you pay for it – cash or credit? Does that make a difference? In hard times, we all juggle. It’s the proverbial “rob Peter to pay Paul” as we pull funds from one source to cover another. It’s a sort of hot potato […]
Stigma
It used to be illegitimacy. Or abortion. Or divorce. Stigma was attached to actions that were overtly or tacitly unacceptable. The consequence was banishment from the fold. Being shunned by those whose approval you wanted. Whose love you needed. Some of the reasons may have shifted, but stigma remains a part of western culture. Children […]
What Ever Happened to Doctor-Patient Relationship?
Some 120 miles away, a friend is lying in her bed. In pain. It’s been six days. She works around the clock – an independent – and has no medical insurance. Just one more thing that disappears for many women when they divorce. And she is over 50. Without an employer, the cost of medical […]
Get Rich Quick!
Link love from Louisville. Product placement in Poughkeepsie. Rentals in Rio. And haven’t we all seen our local version of Mother Makes $88 Dollars an Hour on the Internet? There has to be a way to make bucks fast, right? Must all the ideas we hear and read be schemes and scams? Two years ago […]
Random Acts of Parenting
I thought it would be a quiet weekend. It was. A little too quiet. My son seemed off. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Though he had friends over one evening, there were two nights in a row when he was up at strange hours, walking around. Not his usual behavior. But with adolescents, […]