The first American and the first woman to publish a book of poems, colonial poet Phillis A. Wheatley had earned the admiration of William Blake and George Washington for her lovely, rigorous poems by the time she was sixteen. Wheatley was also an enslaved woman  for much of her life; one of her most famous [...]

by Alexsandra Stewart I’ve been thinking about passion, meditating on the word and feeling, checking the dictionary, because I so often hear myself say, “oh, I love that!”  And THAT might be a pair of shoes, a book, a painting, a house or a dinner with friends. I love You Tube, I love the internet, I [...]

by Patricia Yarberry Allen President Obama,  a Senator for only two years before becoming President of the United States, is a lot like that great cinematic figure Mr. Smith, who went to Washington to represent the common man.   President Obama, in this first address to Congress on February 24th, focused not only on what our citizens [...]

  One of our board members who would rather remain anonymous than feel self serving has suggested that the anniversary of George Washington’s birth is a good day for circulating this letter to our 44th president. Dear President Obama, I am hoping this message will find its way to you or your staff somehow.  I [...]

By Rachel Dent Along my thirty-year career path I created a $100 million dollar business, a great deal of stress for myself, and discovered the Alexander Technique. My goal was to retire early, so that I could realize my passion for teaching English. I was commuting a minimum of two hours a day from the [...]

By Cecilia Ford, Ph.D. Few would argue that Meryl Streep is the best actress of our generation. If awards are a measure of anything, she can claim  a record 15 Oscar nominations (two wins);  an astonishing record of 25 Golden Globe nominations (six awards); and has won prizes from every other imaginable group and organization [...]

When I watch the Oscars this weekend, or, more accurately, watch them while hosting on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” I’ll be thinking of a lunch I had sometime before Christmas.  I met the actress Amy Adams on Dec. 3rd at the Gramercy Park Hotel for that lunch.   I had been thinking for a [...]

Carol Muske-Dukes,  Poet Laureate of California and Renaissance woman,  is a novelist, the author of seven books of poetry, and as essayist is the arrow that says "You Are Here" to women of our age.  She is also an essential book critic, a traveling educator and founding Director of the Ph.D. Program in Literature and Creative [...]

Growing up in a show-business family, Oscar night for my sisters and me was the equivalent of the Harvard- Yale game. While my prep school friends’ parents talked about Princeton men and the Ivy Club, my Mother would say “he was at Warner’s”, or refer to a house in Los Angeles by a movie star’s [...]

by Elizabeth Flock The bed is already crowded when I crawl into it.  The cats have arranged themselves neatly around my mother and they are not happy when I climb aboard and upset their cozy set-up. I fit easily into my father's mattress indentation, he's begun his day but the covers have kept his spot [...]