Notebook
Epstein and bunga-bunga world
Am I alone in remembering that Italy already gave us a preview of the Epstein scandal? Remember former Italian Prime [...]
Recapturing a childhood Christmas
For many people, the Christmas season is one of melancholy rather than the expected joy. There are people who feel [...]
Lessons from Mussolini
During the thirty years I lived in Italy, at dinner parties, there was one statement that was sure to shut [...]
America in a nutshell
I recently began volunteering for Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. Samaritan was founded by a group of Washington, D.C.-area Episcopal [...]
At war’s end
Like a character in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, I recently joined a British pilgrimage in “April, when its showers are sweet.” [...]
Fables for our times
Anyone — parents, teachers, policy-makers — who has kept up with the changes in U.S. education in the last decade [...]
Turnpike beauty
I don’t think anyone has ever said the New Jersey Turnpike is beautiful. But this morning it is. An encyclopedia [...]
War bores at a party
It was just after the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings; the flags had barely been lowered, and already the [...]
Your inner weed
I have been doing a lot of weeding lately. As often happens when doing this kind of mindless chore, my [...]
Wares to sell
I got the auction bug when I lived in Milan and a friend invited me to join her at a [...]
Divorce or un-divorce?
An old friend recently filled me in on the details of a circle of friends and acquaintances that goes back [...]
“Notebook” Author
Madeleine Johnson
A Midwesterner, writer Madeleine Johnson lived in Milan for two decades before recently moving to New Hampshire.