Dreaming of Failure
One of the most annoying recurring themes of my dreams is being back in school. Sometimes I'm back in high school or graduate school, but most often I'm back in college. It makes me suspect I have a secret terror of being a student again. This occured to me again...
Suicide Prevention Day
By the way: last week I celebrated National Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th by not wishing I were dead.
National Suicide Prevention Week
This is National Suicide Prevention Week and Sept. 10th is National Suicide Prevention Day. I'm actually ambivalent about suicide prevention (I feel equally strongly both ways). I believe people have the natural right to decide when they die, but I'm also sensitive to...
The Ber Months
This is my favorite time of year: the months that end in "ber." My favorite month of all is December (because of Christmas), but I also love the autumn months that lead up to that. These days I'm in rapture because I made it through another summer, soon the hot...
My New Business!
I am very excited to announce the name of my new business that helps recent immigrants adjust to life in the U.S: Welcome Dialogue. Click on the name to see my brand new website that just went live last night! (Can you tell how excited I am?) UPDATE 2019: Sadly, I...
September Is PCOS Awareness Month
PCOS stands for polycystic ovary syndrome and increasing numbers of women are being diagnosed with it. It's a hormonal imbalance that can cause problems with periods and make it hard to get pregnant. The most obvious symptoms are acne, weight gain, increased hair...
How Old Do I Look?
I'm writing this post to make one thing clear about the website How Old Do I Look? On this website you can temporarily upload any photo and it will make a guess as to whether the face(s) in that photo are male or female and how old that image appears. The program...
Reintroducing Foods
Doing "cleanses" is a popular practice, which usually means temporarily purging certain foods from your diet and taking some kind of supplement (often a juice or shake) to help your body release toxins. I think afterwards many people just go back to the way they were...
Brown Guilt
I was talking one day to a friend who is Indian American (as opposed to American Indian. Make sure you have these terms straight). We're both attractive, single, brown-skinned, dark-eyed women who are open to finding a relationship with a man. I was talking to her...
Upgrade remorse
I was talking to a friend who regrets upgrading her iTunes application because now her phone won't charge with the adapter she was using. Many of us had upgrade remorse last month when Hulu.com produced a terrible version of its app that didn't allow us to watch...
A Mother’s Mental Illness
Fariha Roisin describes her experience growing up in Living With My Mother's Mental Illness. If you have a few minutes, please read it and let me know if your childhood was similar to Roisin's experience. I wonder how many people grew up in similar circumstances...
Don’t Follow That Dream
During a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Jon Krakauer said his 1996 climbing of Mount Everest was a mistake. This is startling because in his 1997 book Into Thin Air, he explains that reaching that summit was a dream he'd had all his life. In many ways, it...