Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I did not grow up in a musical family. My parents didn’t sing or play an instrument, and didn’t…
The New York Times recently ran an interesting article headlined The Happy Marriage Is the ‘Me’ Marriage. Tara Parker-Pope wrote about not what makes a marriage last but what makes it meaningful, including the ways your partner makes your life better: Dr. Aron and Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., a professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, have studied how individuals…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I had such a wild 2011, a year of such intense personal and professional transformation, that it’s hard to…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I’m a journalist by training so I feel like I’m always gathering stories ideas, whether I want to or…
I like contrarian advice — not that I always agree with the devil’s advocate view, but I think it’s useful to challenge conventional wisdom and reconsider whether you still believe it’s true. For example: Do you really need to drink eight glasses of water a day? Is eight hours of sleep best for you? Should all couples be monogamous? Are…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I like using the calendar as a prompt in my life. I’m a big fan of birthdays, and I…
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I first started blogging in 2006 with a limited goal: We were going to spend a month subletting a New York City apartment, giving us a chance to test…
In the three years I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to write regularly and to get to know topics and people that inspire me. Even more so, I’ve loved the chance to engage in conversations about those topics and people. Ages ago, when I was a young newspaper reporter, writing was mostly a one-way process. Occasionally…
If you’re looking for a little reading material today — maybe the Sunday paper isn’t doing it for you, maybe you’re a bit hung over from ringing in the new year, maybe you’re killing time ’til a college bowl game — I’m here to help. According to my WordPress stats, these were my 10 most-visited posts in 2011: Why the…
Editor’s note: this post contains graphic sexual content and may be offensive to some readers. In fact, it should be offensive to all readers. When I saw students taking to the streets to protest the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, I felt a wave of outrage. Actually, just rage. How could those football fans conjure that much…
I launched this blog Jan. 1, 2009 in what I might describe in retrospect as pre-midlife crisis. I’d spent five years in Michigan’s evening MBA program, focused on graduating and getting a new job in New York. Then having made that move, I enjoyed my new career for three years before beginning to ask “What’s next?” I’ve always been a…
My mother died 10 years ago, and though the passage of time has eased the pain, I still miss her a lot, especially so this weekend. So in honor of Mom, here’s an essay I wrote in 2001 as I approached my first Christmas after her death. Each year at Christmastime, I have readied myself for the unwelcome addition of…
If you know nothing else about the late mythologist Joseph Campbell, it might be his oft-quoted call to follow your bliss. About a year ago, career coach Kim Curtin gave me advice I hadn’t expected: watch Campbell’s interviews with Bill Moyers and see what inspiration comes about following your bliss. Then Kim started talking about the recent premiere of Finding…
New York Times columnist David Brooks recently ran an interesting amateur sociology experiment: he solicited what he called “life reports” from people 70 years old and up, sharing what they had done well and poorly, then he combed them for lessons. With the giant caveats that: these are people who read the New York Times and opted in to sharing…
You’ve probably heard the cliché that no one on his death bed wishes he’d spent more time at the office. But while I was there as both my mother and stepmother died, I don’t have any great insight into the psyche of the dying and what they wish they had or hadn’t done with their time on earth. So I…
I recall hearing a story years ago that one of the drivers of the technology revolution and dot-com boom was the hard economy of the 1980s — facing shaky job prospects, the best and brightest were more inclined to strike out on their own and innovate instead of serving corporate bosses. I haven’t seen data proving the recession forced people…
So many people are stressed out today about so many things: why is my brother always late? will these lumps come out of the gravy? can you even believe how long that security line was at the airport? In a country of people who don’t really cook, we maintain this annual tradition of huge dinner parties, making foods many of…
My fabulous friend Sara Grace recently wrote a blog post inspired by a study of how men and women behave differently at work. Some statistics cited: Men are 25% more likely to take breaks throughout the day for personal activities 7% more likely to take a walk 5% more likely to go out to lunch 35% more likely to take…
This spring I wrote a freelance story for LSA Magazine at University of Michigan, profiling several Michigan grads working to reinvent New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, followed by the catastrophic failure of the city’s levees, flooding much of the city and turning Katrina into the costliest natural disaster in American history. Elsewhere, time is measured…
In spite of my unabashed adoration of George Clooney, this is not just a thinly veiled excuse to get his handsome face on my blog. Parade magazine recently featured Clooney on its cover, then ran a related Q&A on its website. The article, headlined What Drives George Clooney, included this snippet that’s a perfect fit for Newvine Growing: You’ve talked…
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to a connection between happiness and longevity. A study by University College in London of about 3,500 people found those who reported feeling happiest had a 35 percent lower risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy. A USA Today story on the…
