I recently spent quite a bit of time watching an 18-month-old with a penchant for climbing. He attempted to do incredibly foolish things. There was no explaining to him that the chair was likely to tip over, the fall from the staircase bannister would be unpleasant, and that the curtain was not mountain climbing gear....
It is easy to be an armchair hero. We prefer to picture ourselves as sheltering an escaping slave rather than closing our door to a desperate runaway. We lecture our children about coming to the aid of a bullied classmate, and we imagine ourselves intervening when we see an animal being beaten. Yet, until tested,...
Saying that I am not a digital native is a bit like saying that I am not a black belt in karate. Duh! So, I was not shocked that when I posted a cheesecake recipe in preparation for the holy days of Shavuot (Pentecost) on our We Happy Warrior member site, I accidentally sent out...
On Tuesday, New York State’s governor, Kathy Hochul, approved a bill banning gas stoves from most new construction as of 2026. Like so much government meddling, this allows officials to virtue-signal while making life more difficult and more expensive for regular people. My husband and I moved into our new apartment last week. Its biggest...
How many cookbooks does it take to look up a recipe on the Internet? That is not a cunning riddle or a crafty logic problem. The simple and undeniable answer is “zero.” And yet… We are in the middle of a move. Although we are going only a short distance geographically, each item we own...
The traffic light was red. I took advantage of being stationary to look at the back cover of the library book I had just picked up for my children. Big mistake. By the time the light turned green, I was crying so hard that I needed to pull over to the curb. Sarah, Plain, and...
On March 3, 2018, Sir Roger Bannister died. As news of his death at the age of 88 hit the airwaves some might remember that this was the second time his death was publicly announced. 64 years earlier the young medical student became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. As...
Last week’s Musing revolved around friendship and the precious relationships we enjoy with other people. This week, my husband and I heard of the death of someone who was more than a friend to us; he was also a mentor. Dr. Garth Coonce, along with his wife Tina, may she live and be well, opened...
How many friends do you have? In her book, Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, National Public Radio’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Nina Totenberg, writes movingly and eloquently about her friendship with a number of people, most particularly, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. This specific relationship spanned the years both before and after Justice...
There are many ways to quash discussion. One of them, in vogue today, is to refuse to separate ideas from individuals. Do you think illegal immigration is a problem? You obviously hate migrants and what is more, you are xenophobic. Are you concerned about men adopting babies? This means that you surely hate men or...
