“Just so you know, if you’ve got any background sounds we can hear, I will mute you. The same goes for distracting movement; I’ll ‘mute’ your video,” I say. I strive to be a role model of Zoom decorum. I have set up my office space to maximize my streaming presence. I burn a lavender candle …

Dear Sen. Portantino,

Rocking on my porch, my dear friend Michelle and I looked to our right and saw Tuck, a feral kitty, come for some kibble. We were both in tears because he had been AWOL for a few weeks. “We had cats at our family bakery. My dad created Ezekiel bread, and an organic bakery will not use poison…

I watch myself, outside myself. I sit at my cluttered desk. I engage in avoidant behaviors: online shopping for unnecessary things; arranging the perfumed, lovely lilacs from our yard; chatting with a friend I haven’t talked to in forever. These actions are all to avoid today’s topic: the te…

Dear Polytechnic School in Pasadena,

Animal extinction. Out-of-control development. Global authoritarianism. Fossil fuel industries continuing to rape and murder the earth. Climate crisis-fueled wildfires and floods. Apocalypse. Death. Aaaah! I’m not sure if that’s the correct spelling of a tortured scream of agony and urgency,…

I was raised in South Dakota. The only Jewish person I was familiar with was Anne Frank… and, of course, Jesus. The third Jewish person I knew, I married. His family was mortified and had to muster every “good sport” molecule they had to accept his choice of me as his fiancée: a shiksa, a no…

The sun was finally shining as we sat on our front porch in Altadena. The recent near-torrential rains had resulted in a plethora of flowers. Our little faces, like the blooms, also turned toward the sun. “Ken, do you remember learning that Bill W., a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got …

My sister Mary said, “I can’t believe Karen said she voted for Trump and would do so again!”

Women’s History Month in March gives us time to reflect not only on the long arc of history but on one’s own personal history. One of my most vivid personal historical moments was at the 2017 Women’s March in D.C., a couple of months after “that” presidential election.

What should I read if I want to learn about women’s history?” my student asked. I’ve been promoting Women’s History Month in my March writing classes. “How far back do you want to go? I could start you off with the Greek or Nordic pantheon of badass women. They’re mythological but also histo…

Happy Women’s History Month, sweetie!” I say to my husband, Ken. “I’d like to think I may have had something to do with Jacquie Lawson and LovePop having International Women’s Day and women’s history cards as part of their collection, although I can’t be sure,” I say. “Why do you say that?” …

I begin this week by wishing all of you Happy Women’s History Month — let’s celebrate it all March long! To kick things off, here’s an unlikely story about women’s liberation on a very subtle level.

You have rats? Gross! I thought rats only lived in big cities,” my sister Mary said. We’d just seen a rat the size of a pony gallop across my kitchen floor. I did have a small horse ranch after all. “Nope, being in California, I’ve learned that wherever there is food, there are rats,” I said.

Run, don’t walk, your hands over to your computer’s keyboard and book tickets now, before they sell out, for my dear friend Michal Dawson Connor’s inspiring show “The Slave Letters.” The show’s origin story began when Connor worked in Berlin during the mid ’90s. After performing in a product…