Today is Saint Anna’s day. You may know her as Jesus’s grandma, as Anna and Joachim were the parents of Mary. Anna is not a flashy saint. She’s no Mary Magdalene (hubba hubba!) or John the Baptist. But for people named Anna, she’s a patron saint. And there may be others who choose her as their…
cultural beliefs
Comfort? Food.
Last week was the first since the inception of this blog in which I didn’t post. I could make some excuses about being preoccupied by traveling with the baby, spending time with family, meeting some article deadlines. But the truth is I was too busy eating. It started when we arrived at my parents’ house…
What’s in a Name?
When I was a little girl someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I sat down and made a list. High on it (below “shoe-shopper” but above bookstore clerk) was the following ambition: I wanted to be in charge of naming nail polishes and lipsticks. At first glance that…
Let There Be Light!
I have a window of opportunity (that is to say, a sleeping baby) and I had an entirely different blog planned (fear not, it will make its appearance soon). But I keep getting messages about Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, and I am not one to ignore summons from the universe. First, a few…
‘Tis the Season
Having grown up in Athens–where there were ritual greetings for every occasion, including the first day of each month–and in New England, which does the change of the seasons more intensely than any other U.S. region I know, I’ve been missing Fall here in Miami Beach, which alternates between hot and rainy pretty much year…
Fabulous at 40 (days)
Life begins at 40…or so birthday cards and makeup aimed at “mature skin” would have us believe. But there does seem to be something magical and mystical about the 40 day mark for infants. And the more I look into it, the more I realize that it marks the end of a liminal stage; after…