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...
Arm Yourself and Never Be Afraid
I'm not talking about arming yourself with a weapon. I'm talking about arming yourself with the physical skills to protect yourself against assault. Here's why it makes more sense to learn self-defense moves than buy a gun: A gun can be separated from you, but you'll...
#PeriodProblems
Four ibuprofen every three and a half hours. I even set my alarm to wake me up in the middle of the night so I wouldn't wake up to PAIN. Keeping the air conditioner on high so I can use the heating pad while it's in the 90s outside (30s Celsius). Staying home a lot so...