Where I'm published
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Revisiting Walden
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden Henry David Thoreau’s Walden tops my list of life-changing literature. It didn’t grab me the first time around. But after reading it a second time, I understood everything Thoreau was trying to tell me. I wanted to learn more about this eccentric man who revered nature, wrote for social justice, and treasured solitude. His writings challenged to keep moving “in the direction of my dreams,” even when it wasn’t easy. After visiting Walden Pond in Concord,…
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Catch up with me in The Oakland Press
My columns and features appear in The Oakland Press and several other daily newspapers in the MediaNews Group. My columns run online and in print editions, and you’ll also find them in the OP’s Vitality magazine, a monthly supplement to The Oakland Press (available on the second Thursday of every month). You’ll find an archive of my previous Oakland Press columns and feature stories online here. Readers in Oakland County (Michigan) can find free print editions of Vitality at many local libraries and community centers, including the Meininger Community Center (Royal Oak) and the Blair Memorial Library and Hunter Community Center (both in Clawson).
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When it’s time to let go
“The art of letting go of your child must come in stages. We grow with them as parents, but our hearts are never truly ready for them to leave the nest.” ~Jennifer L. Betts Reclaiming and repurposing my son’s childhood bedroom happened “in stages” — long after he left home. For a while it remained unchanged, a memorial to the past. I wrote about the process in a reflective essay that touches on the importance of letting go of our earlier parenting roles and embracing the future. The essay appears in the October 2022 issue of Vitality magazine (in The Oakland Press), which will be available in print next Thursday.…
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List-en to yourself
“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.” ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park Did you know that the root of list actually means listen to? When we get quiet and listen to ourselves, we often discover the answers we’ve been seeking. List-making can be a life-changing tool for continuing this inner dialogue. Next Wednesday (Oct.5), I’ll be leading a free community workshop on list-making in the Friends Auditorium at the Royal Oak Public Library. (We’ll have some fun writing a variety of lists in the class.) Meanwhile, I wrote a new article on the benefits of list-making, and you can…
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School supplies for Mom
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe Shopping for brand-new supplies was a favorite back-to-school ritual when my son was a child. Is there anything more fun than browsing through aisles of colorful pens, markers, crayons, and notebooks? Even if you’re an empty nester, you can recapture the fresh thrill of back-to-school shopping — and maybe discover a new craft or hobby of your own. That’s the topic of my new Oakland Press column. You can read it in the Sunday print edition (August 14) or look for it online here.…
