Poetry Sunday: “Here, Too,” by Jennifer Nelson
“Empire” is such a loaded word today that it is hard not to read it with suspicion and irony in any context, but it strikes me that isolationists and fans of strong government could read “Here, Too”as an anthem to empire and its ability to bulwark against disintegrating change.
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Children and the Trauma of Being Trapped
Two groups of children found themselves trapped and separated from their parents in recent weeks. Both found themselves imprisoned in scary, possibly life-threatening situations, cut off from their families and unable to communicate with them.
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‘Boundaries’: A Multi-Generational Road Trip
The writing is smart and funny, the scenery along the Pacific coast is glorious, and the performances are all topnotch. It was a labor of love for the director, and her close connection to the material is apparent.
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Heart Disease in Women Is Still Under-Diagnosed
Once a woman gets diagnosed with heart disease she will do worse and be more likely to die from it than a man. What is the reason for this large discrepancy?
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Poetry Sunday: “Arthritis,” by Carol Moldaw
The connections that occur during writing are always unexpected and often revelatory.
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Celebrating Independence Day in a Divided Nation
As we think about American values this week, remember that it starts with the individual, with character.
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The Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
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Leave No Trace: Director Debra Granik Returns with the Summer’s Most Powerful Movie
Will Debra Granik make us wait another eight years for her next narrative film?
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July Fourth Heat and Your Health
The fireworks may not be seen at all in the sky this Fourth of July as much of the country deals with prolonged and excessive heat due to a “heat dome.”
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Poetry Sunday: “Wine Country,”
by Kirsten Jones Neff
As our children leave home for college, my husband and I have begun to dream up the journeys we will take together, just the two of us. But as we dream and plan, I am reminded of the simplicity of true romance, the richness and adventure and fullness that is two people in love, exploring.
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While You Are Sleeping and Dreaming
A lot goes on when you are sleeping, much of it important work for maintaining physical and mental health.
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Wishful Thinking at the Multiplex:
Summer Movies of Yesteryear
"Beach Blanket Bingo" is a " 'bedroom farce' moved to the beach and made a little younger, a little dumber, and stuffed full of wild music." Younger, dumber, but also definitively summer.
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What Causes Midlife Weight Gain
and Strategies To Control It
We respond to a reader's questions: "Did menopause make me gain this weight? And, what can I do to get back to my former shape?"
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Poetry Sunday: “Epic,” by Ange Mlinko
“Epic” is spoken in the form of direct address, Psyche (or a contemporary speaker) talking to her lover, but we cannot help being drawn in by those inclusive pronouns “you” and “we.”
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Incalculable Damage:
Separating Children and Parents Is the Equivalent of Psychological Torture
Forcibly taken from their sobbing parents under conditions they don’t understand and alone in a foreign country where they probably don’t know the language is the psychological equivalent not just of abuse, but of torture.
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‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ Yes, Please!
This touching tribute to Fred Rogers, the world’s most unlikely celebrity, left many audience members in my local indie movie house (this reviewer included) smiling through tears. (You may want to bring a hanky.)
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Ovarian Cancer — What You Need to Know
In the United States, ovarian cancer is the tenth most common cancer among women and the single most common cause of gynecologic cancer deaths.
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Poetry Sunday: “Anthropocene Pastoral,”
by Catherine Pierce
In writing this poem, I was compelled by the idea that this planet we’re steadily destroying is so magnificent that even its deterioration can look, at times, beautiful.
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The Many Shades of Fatherly Love
[From Our Archives]
Our writers have experienced many shades of fatherly love—conditional, unconditional, warmly comforting, wintry, authoritarian, nurturing, judgmental. For Father’s Day—this Sunday, June 17—we present these varied memories.
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Fathers—Judged By a Different Standard?
We love our fathers, and we need them. Father’s Day offers a chance to reward the good ones, forgive the imperfect ones, and educate the bad ones.
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‘Ocean’s 8’: The Heist Genre Gets A Fabulous
(Female) Makeover
Imagine my surprise — and delight — when the new movie 'Ocean's 8' not only lived up to its considerable and costly hype but exceeded my expectations in so many ways.
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Losing Hope: Understanding and Preventing Suicide
People need the support of their family and community. Depression’s cruel reality is that it often prevents sufferers from positive action on their own behalf, and death is the only plan that seems to offer relief from their pain.
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Poetry Sunday: “Ghazal for the Girl in the Photo,” by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
The subject of the “Afghan Girl,” Steve McCurry’s famous photograph (published in the 'National Geographic' and iconic of war and the suffering of refugees around the world), was, for a long time, a girl without a name.
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Five Marriage Myths Dispelled
Couples that fight a lot during the first years of marriage often have a better chance of staying together than those who sweep things “under the rug.”
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