Words are my treasure and my pleasure, so it is surprising to find myself newly amazed at the power which can be packed into a single word. Case in point: “Apartheid.” Supporters of Israel’s current policies are up in arms over Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. They find it too critical of …
If only there were a futures market in the arrogance of foundation presidents, I would have broken the bank this week. On Sunday, the New York Times ran an article about the changes major foundations are making to keep up with Bill Gates’ mega-philanthropy. In it, the Rockefeller Foundation’s new president dismisses all that came …
The vacation trip I’m on was planned to coincide with my birthday on the 16th, but I’m not going to tell you which one it is. I guess vanity is the typical reason for withholding one’s age, but in truth, it’s vanity that usually makes me volunteer my age. That’s been my most effective way …
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates 1500 years ago, and I’m inclined to agree. Paul Gauguin’s enigmatic 1897 painting “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” has always seemed to me to embody the essence of the quest for meaning that gives value to our own lives—that …
We Americans have strange ideas about social class. In study after study, the vast majority (often more than 80 percent) self-identify as “middle class,” suggesting that for some people identity is aspiration and for some illusion. When social scientists study class distinctions based on measurable factors such as income, it turns out unsurprisingly that 1/3 …
When I was an unhappy girl, I tried complaining to my mother (may she rest in peace). I only tried a few times, enough to realize her answer would invariably be the same. “Happy, schmappy!” she’d shrug, “Who’s happy?” If you’re listening, Mom, I’ve got an answer.
Yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air, culture critic John Powers offered his list of 2006’s defining cultural moments. What struck me about many of them was their similarity: deducing 2006’s essential character from Powers’ list, you’d have to say that stateside, it’s been a year of culture clash. Half of Powers’ dozen or so items comprised …
This week I dug out the light box I bought when we lived in Seattle, where darkness falls before 4 pm each day and persists till nearly 9 in the morning. The box generates an intense light that helps overcome the malaise some people experience in the season of darkness. For some reason, even though …
Everywhere I look these days, I see an new, integrated awareness emerging from collaborations that transcend just about every conventional boundary there is: national borders, cultural differences, race, religion, gender—you name it. Two weeks ago, my good friend was one of more than 1200 people attending an event at the Pachamama Alliance, an extraordinary group …
“Man was born free,” wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau 250 years ago, “and he is everywhere in chains.” As Thanksgiving approaches, Rousseau’s words have been cycling through my mind. I am thankful for the tremendous freedom of movement, association and speech I have as a citizen of this country (even as I join others in fighting to …