Caryl Avery

Surely it’s not too much to expect people to calculate the effect of their heedlessness, to be mindful of this absent-mindedness, even to attribute their unwitting assaults to their own half-wittedness. In short, to think before it becomes necessary (or polite) to offer a perfunctory “Sorry.”

By Susan Klatsky Cohen

How to spin out the pleasure of eating a Mallomar? Dunking is an option, of course, but there are more creative ways to dote on them . . .

By Toni Myers

Mother did outrageous things—cut the telephone cord when she thought Father had gotten too many calls (you have to be old to understand that this was just not done). She covered our dog Hansy with Chanel No. 5 after he got into the dead fish by the lake water. She drove across state lines to get fireworks in Ohio, setting them off like a maniac in northern Michigan . . .

By Patricia Yarberry Allen, M.D.

The Kentucky Derby is always the first Saturday of May. I know it is a horse race, but today I was only interested in the filly from New Jersey named Rosie. That would be Rosie Napravnik, the only female jockey in today’s race.

By Roz Warren

A cane sometimes comes in handy. I’ve been using mine to point and gesture. And to close any door or drawer I can’t quite reach. I wave it about for emphasis when I have a point to make, or pretend to thwack anyone who makes a point I disagree with. This week, I’m not just another smart-ass. I’m a smart-ass with a prop.

I’d be up for sitting in the front at meetings, if I can juggle and make sarcastic remarks. And can I gossip about people as long as I correctly remember their names?

First, a door opened and a ghostly hand plunked a glass of water on the table. I kept on reading my story into the microphone. Then the door behind me opened. Kevin the audio engineer, a large man with a warm smile, entered. He sat down across the table. “Try it again,” he said.

By Roz Warren

If Samson had had a good therapist, he might have refrained from tormenting the Philistines. Or falling for Delilah, who, clearly, was a Very Bad Choice. And then where would the Jewish People be?

By Roz Warren

“Of course, when I got a job in the junior room at my local public library, I had to put a lid on my stress-relieving swearing. Eileen, dropping a heavy reference book on her sandal-clad foot, can exclaim only ‘Sugar!’ Deb, tripping over an extension cord and falling flat on her face, is allowed to shout ‘Dang!’ Even when a hotheaded patron begins shouting and swearing and calling me nasty names, I’m not allowed to return fire.”

The documentary “MAKERS: Women Who Make America” premieres next week; unpacking the myth of women as terrible drivers; a flashback to 1949 lists on how women can be more attractive to men; male stereotypes that Hollywood needs to rid itself of; and the beauty of educating girls in our world’s poorest countries.

By C.A. Carrington.

This New Yorker has just fallen in love with “weird and wonderful Portland.” Still, she notes judiciously, “Let’s be realistic, darling—you do have some qualities and traits that can try my resolve and good nature, even in my most patient moments.”

You’d imagine that Valentine’s Day was over-the-top between my mother and my father. No. Let cheating husbands beguile their wives with heart-shaped truffles on February 14. Instead, my parents winked at Cupid and dedicated the day to family love.

Babysitting is so cool that I often wonder why more empty-nesters don’t try it as a second career.

Whether you feel defeated, you have gotten into a bad habit, or you are still rebelling against your parent’s endless admonishments to “Stand up straight!,” it is time you got over it and stood up for yourself.

Yes, there were dates over those ten years, some of them better than others, and some of them even making my heart beat a bit faster. But never, in all these years, did I put on Great Date. There was always a hesitation, a doubt, the fear of wasting my favorite (and discontinued!) lipstick on something that would not be worth it in the end.