Leftovers is the second book by Stella Newman I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing. The story is a little different, but the morale is the same: while romance is beautiful, it is not a necessary component to building a happy, fulfilling life. No, Leftovers is not a rant on the superiority of… Read More Book Review: ‘Leftovers’ by Stella Newman
Being a teenager is already hard; but it’s even harder when your mother is a congresswoman running for re-election. While seventeen year-old Reagan Fray doesn’t have to worry about material things, she has a lot of other things that weigh her down. The pressure of appearing perfect is extremely difficult; taking example from her mother,… Read More Book Review: ‘Life Unaware’ by Cole Gibsen
A post recently went up on Sahar’s Blog discussing some of the benefits and pitfalls of journaling. It generated an influx of emails from readers with, amongst others, some great “logistical” tips about journaling; these inspired a post on the most coveted journals and pens. Ensuing conversations contained so many great quirks and habits that… Read More Building Effective Journaling: Some Tried and Tested Habits
In a tradition similar to that of Jennifer Weiner, the lives of four women become tightly intertwined as they learn that life lived through wishful thinking does not guarantee their dreams coming true. Four years ago, the precocious Kenzie Armstrong saw an end to her quick ascent up the marketing career ladder because of a… Read More Book Review: Lindy DeKoven – ‘The Secret Life of Wishful Thinking’
Many women spend countless hours and large sums of money to get rid of unwanted hair. From our eyebrows all the way to our toes, there is not a single part of the female body that has not been subjected to plucking in some form or another. How many of us have stopped to consider… Read More Book Review: ‘Plucked: A History of Hair Removal’ by Rebecca M. Herzig
Community building is a wonderfully complex process that contains many layers and elements. One of these elements are relationships, in all shapes and forms: between family members, between friends, between lovers, between coworkers, between store workers and customers, between people who regularly commute together, etc. There are many ways to reinforce each of these relationships… Read More Building a House (and a Community) With Cards
Many old projects came back to the light while I was putting together the forthcoming book Six Years Later: Midnight Musings of an Overactive Mind. One of them was the feature titled “Putting Humanity Back into Arts” that I launched in 2008. The objective was to have conversations with various artists who were trying to… Read More Artist Spotlight: Dust on the Radio
Punctuality is considered an important part of the character of a well-rounded person. Many are taught early on that being punctual is important. It reflects our own trustworthiness as well as respect for other people’s times. Many also learn that a pattern of constantly changing plans at the last minute reflects the opposite: that we… Read More The Balancing Act between Punctuality and Flexibility
Two weeks into 2015 already! New Year resolutions are still a hot topic, and although many readers loved my posts about journaling, some mentioned they were looking for other tools available to them in their quest for self-improvement. I immediately thought of mantras (something I have already blogged about). Not to sound too dramatic here,… Read More Hello, 2015! Mantra-fying your New Year’s Resolutions
Heartbreaking in its simplicity, Pieces of my Mother is Melissa Cistaro’s attempt to shed some much needed light on her dark past. Her mother—the woman who left her three children and her then-husband when Cistaro was a very small child—is dying, and Cistaro finds herself holding vigil at her bedside, desperate to connect with the… Read More Book Review: ‘Pieces of my Mother’ by Melissa Cistaro