At 6 AM this morning. My polling place in Manhattan had a line down the block and around the corner, and it took 45 minutes to get through the line, to the (reassuringly old-school) poll and cast my ballot.

I've never seen anything like it, and I'm proud to be an American, privileged to have voted.

My politics are no secret, and although they are deeply entrenched, I’m not one to insist on agreement. The thing about a democracy is that everyone gets a voice and a plethora of views can co-exist. However, there are several things I feel very strongly about, enough to say here ( Read more... )

I've disabled comments on the previous post and this one, not because I don't appreciate knowing about your good wishes, but because it's not about me, but about my friend in ICU.

Many of you know about my friend Scraps, who has been a special friend for nearly twenty years. If you don’t, well, he had a stroke two days ago. He’s 44 ( Read more... )

A body in motion stays in motion, or something like that, and I'm trying hard to get the ball rolling again, which is the explanation for so many posts in one day. This one is pretty silly: public transportation I've taken.


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A post that can be ignored by people who aren’t charmed by odd facts and/or don’t have green eyes ( Read more... )

I love family. Really. Not necessarily mine, or even most I’ve met, but it’s a seductive concept. I love the idea of people who will love and accept you, the feeling of belonging, and most of all, the sense of lineage and connection. It’s the reason that, despite a mostly secular life, I observe the Jewish holidays, happy in the knowledge that ( Read more... )

I got tired of feeling bad about the stopped start-up ( Read more... )

The day would not be complete without mention of Isaac Newton's birthday. To celebrate, we each grasped a mandarin orange, although apples are traditional and anything would have worked, held the fruit aloft, and let go. The oranges fell to the ground and went BOOM!, although fortunately, they didn't squish in the manner of a tomato, which would ( Read more... )

There is some significant advantage to having no family holiday rituals or childhood traumas associated with the season. Sure, there’s no built-in sense of tradition or connection, but you get to set your own rules and have as much fun as you can manage, which is what I did until I had a family of my own. It’s not that the girls’ father came form ( Read more... )