New country, new goals
By this time the last crumbs of panettone (a sweet bread served during the New Year) have finally disappeared from [...]
New Year’s lessons
Some years ago, I wrote a line that has recently re-emerged in my mind: Maybe I should go back to [...]
Ancient wisdom for a high-tech age
I have always been intrigued by how the ancients created their gods and goddesses to interact with humans and the [...]
Recapturing a childhood Christmas
For many people, the Christmas season is one of melancholy rather than the expected joy. There are people who feel [...]
The best Christmas classics (and some campiness) on film
Christmas is right around the corner! And what better way to get into the spirit of the yuletide season than [...]
God, help me
In August 1988, my mother died in Washington, D.C. — her second home after Rome — and made a very [...]
Review: The Living Infinite
The Living Infinite: A Novel, by Chantel Acevedo, crafts a historical fiction story based on Eulalia, the nineteenth-century Spanish daughter [...]
Mother, scholar, feminist
When I finished my dissertation last summer, surreptitiously becoming a doctor of philosophy, I reposted the Facebook announcement sent out [...]
Lessons from Mussolini
During the thirty years I lived in Italy, at dinner parties, there was one statement that was sure to shut [...]
Gently weeping
This is a love story that could easily slip through the cracks if you let it. I won’t and can’t, [...]
Lost worlds
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic flooded the planet, my job was supporting people with learning disabilities to live and build [...]