An old family photograph hangs over my shoulder on the wall beside my desk. Within the spartan metal frame are two professionally captured portraits—one of my mother, the other of my grandmother. There is no date or inscription, but judging by the ages of the two subjects, I’m guessing the…
I’m writing this post from the deck of a cedar A-frame, 8400 feet above sea level. My kids and husband Andy, are here with me in southern Utah. I’ll characterize our location as the middle of nowhere, roughly equal distance to Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks. We’ve been doing…
Like most graduates of the University of Michigan, I’m well aware of certain remarkable people who have attended my alma mater. Stories and sightings of celebrities like Madonna, Tom Brady, Arthur Miller, Gerald Ford, and James Earl Jones reside in the communal knowledge space of Michigan alumni. Then there are…
While reading Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast last year, I began to seriously ponder the amount of time the Internet sucks from my life. Learning about this great American author’s early days as a starving artist in Paris, I was struck by the simplicity of his existence. With a bare minimum…
This Sunday marks exactly one year since I learned of the American artist Faith Ringgold while roving around Paris. After returning home, I wrote about the special exhibit at Le Musée Picasso that introduced me to her work. She died last week at age 93. So this week, I thought…
A skeptic at heart, I’m not one to believe in providence or good luck but whenever I’m in Paris, the number of happy coincidences I experience seems improbably high. For example, last December, after visiting an exhibit of Honoré Daumier’s 19th-century farcical Parisian caricatures, I failed to find a book…
Facebook says you’re gone, Like the many maddening horrors that mark the daily news, It can’t be true. Weren’t we just kids? You, pirouetting beneath a falling baton, Me, drawing glances with a waving flag. In the crowded hallways you caught my eye. Like a favorite sweater, you slipped over…
