As I mentioned in the bio note accompanying “Meds,” I wrote this essay to offer an additional perspective on the controversial topic of prescribing medication to children, but a draft of this piece existed over a year before Brian T. Maurer’s “Reigning in the Rx” appeared. Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of articles and books […]
Why I wrote “Explaining Death”
My daughter was four-and-a-half when our cat died. She didn’t see her die, she just saw her get old and sick. I don’t really know how much children understand about death at that age, but obviously they know enough to understand that if one living creature can die, just cease to exist, be here no […]
Why I wrote “Alien”
I’m not kidding – “Resident Alien” really is a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services term and is defined in the USCIS glossary as follows: “This term applies to non-U.S. citizens currently residing in the United States. The term is applied in three different manners; please see Permanent resident, Conditional resident, Returning resident.” Those words – […]
Why I wrote “Interesting Times”
I have to admit, I must have not been paying much attention to the news in December 2010 (probably because I was traveling). So I missed the incoming reports about the unrests and demonstrations in Tunisia. However, once the “Arab Spring” spread into Egypt, followed by the horrors in Libya, I was back in my […]
Why I wrote “Hair”
We were on vacation, somewhere in Virginia. We had just left the hotel, and my kids and I were parked in the car, while my husband went into a Starbucks to get himself some coffee for the road. While we waited, I looked at a group sitting at a table on the patio – a […]
