Author, Journalist, Pop Folklorist
Navigating a modern world with the help of time-tested traditions
What is a Liminal Stage?
Liminal stages are psychological thresholds, times of transition when we stand “betwixt and between” one state and another. The biggies are birth, marriage, death-cultures develop splashy rituals around these transitions to ease the anxiety they provoke. For the smaller, but significant, crossroads we traverse every day, I offer the celebrations, superstitions, and coping mechanisms found in this blog.
One of the amazing things about being in India is that people are actively seeking enlightenment all around you, all the time. And it’s (usually) not in an annoying, “I know more than you do about the meaning of life” kind of way. It’s just that people’s daily routine involves a lot of thinking about…
Read more about The Laughing Yogi in the Fetid River of Life
So, we’re in the middle of the Magh Mela, a vast pilgrimage festival for Hindus which started with Makar Sankrati on the 14th of January (you read it here first!) and ends on March 3d. There are a series of dates within that time that are the most auspicious for bathing in one of the…
So, yesterday was the Wolf Moon. That’s the name the Native Americans gave the January full moon, because it was the time of year when wolves howled at it. (Is it wrong that the image of wolves howling at the moon now makes me think of the logo of Foxwoods casino, my dad’s happy place…
So, today I woke up thinking about turtles. But that’s not where the story starts. It starts over a decade and a half ago when I was on a beach on the island of Zakynthos and the toothless, but nevertheless oddly handsome, man renting out beach chairs started chatting up my mom. He told us…
…but speed is the thing with wings. And so are my sandals. These are by Matt Bernson, and I’d never have come across such shockingly beautiful shoes if it weren’t for my friend and former InStyle colleague Alice Kim, who now owns a wildly charming boutique in Omaha called Trocadero (check it out at Trocadero.com)….
Today is Makar Sankrati on the Hindu calendar, a celebration which marks the sun’s trip into the northern hemisphere. It’s supposed to be a highly lucky time, and I make it a policy to take luck wherever I can get it. I learned (on a BBC site, go BBC!) that MakSank (as I affectionately like…
I love covering places that inspire me—from Greece to Nicaragua and everywhere in between—for outlets such as Travel+Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, InStyle and more. Join me on my trips here.
From parenting to politics to pop culture, I’ve got opinions —and I’m not afraid to share them in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. Learn why I’m a bad mom here.