I learned today via  New York Times piece that the super-charged, $100,000 BMW-M5 with the twin-turbo V8 engine uses a --gasp--recorded sound to mimic the full-throated roar the driver might expect to hear upon starting the car or pressing the accelerator.

A… Read full post »

Princeton has always had an independent bookstore. Since 2006, Labyrinth Books has filled the needs of both the university and the community, and its innovative approach may offer a model for other struggling outlets. 

Labyrinth is Princeton University’s official partner, of… Read full post »

The 9/11 Memorial and OWS occupy two parks adjacent to each other in Lower Manhattan. Otherwise, they couldn't be more different.

 October 17, 2011 seemed like a fine day to head downtown and see the memorial I’d avoided up to and just after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.… Read full post »

My grade school tormenter reached me through Facebook. Actually, he located me on Facebook via some site called Classmates. I don’t remember registering on Classmates but who knows? I might have hit the wrong button at some point. The bottom line is: he found me.

“Hi Nikki,”… Read full post »

A survey conducted post-apocalyptic debt ceiling kerfuffle indicates 82%  of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Congress. Up in Canada, the folks seem to think at least that many Americans are off their rockers.

I've just returned from eleven days on the road, traveling by car wit… Read full post »

I’ve been imagining the 10^th anniversary as marking a big change, in the manner of the event itself: a cleaver that again sunders my life into before and after. Ten years after the attack that took my husband and left me an involuntary member of a group of grieving relatives, I've… Read full post »

In an attempt to unclutter my life. I’ve been throwing out papers, giving away clothes and sorting through boxes.  I seem determined to keep my memories consigned to mental cubbyholes. Too much looking back  feels  unsettling.

But the past is never really past, though it… Read full post »

Yesterday, as one of a group of selected 9/11 family members, I had an opportunity to meet with President Obama. Although the number of invitees swelled at the last minute and the format changed from a sit-down to a stand-up affair, I had my moments with the man. Problem is, I… Read full post »

Exhausted after a day of stripping three rooms bare in anticipation of a painting crew, I crashed Sunday night around 10:30. The phone rang at midnight and again at 1 AM but of course, I couldn't find it—the phone, that is. So I didn’t hear the messages from the media outlets… Read full post »

You probably didn’t know Sally Goodrich. She was, among other things, a teacher and school administrator; a cancer survivor; wife of a small-town lawyer from North Adams, Massachusetts;  the mother of a young man killed on 9/11; and eventually, a dedicated advocate for Afghan civilians… Read full post »

My early teen years were a struggle, to say the least. I was ungainly, unsure and decidedly uncool. Eventually, I would attain the even teeth, the carefully ironed long hair,  even an acceptable body shape.  But in 1964, I wanted to look like my older brother's cheerleader girlfriends. More… Read full post »

I’m moving.

To be honest, I’ve been promising/threatening to move out of my townhouse for eight or nine years; but this is the year I intend to set my intention into motion.  Perhaps it’s the tenth anniversary of my husband’s death or the fact that I’ve lived alone i… Read full post »

The prolific author Joyce Carol Oates has written a book about losing her husband, following in the heart-broken footsteps of many other such memoirs, such as The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Oates’ book, A Widow’s Story, has been generally, although carefully, praised save fo… Read full post »

           RECORD LEVELS OF STRESS FOUND IN COLLEGE FRESHMEN

Jan. 27, 2011: The emotional health of college freshmen — who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school — has declined to the lowest level sinc… Read full post »

As a fan of the smart little "dramadies" on USA Network,  some of which are returning this week, I was already disposed to like The Defenders (not to be confused with the sixties courtroom drama starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed), CBS' prime-time offering on Wednesdays at 10 PM*  *upda… Read full post »

Once upon a time, people did not race to the malls in order to dash from store to store in search of the perfect gift, or even an acceptable one. They did not face crammed parking lots, overburdened clerks, uninspiring displays, and a lunch of greasy fries or sugary treats that invariably… Read full post »

 I keep forgetting Oprah Winfrey's talk show is going off the air in late May. It's kind of hard to grasp the fact that this ubiquitous cultural icon will end her twenty-five year reign as talk show queen. But she's leaving and, as observed in a recent New  York Times article,… Read full post »

"The chairman of President Obama's bipartisan commission on reducing the national debt outlines a politically provocative and economically ambitious package of spending cuts and tax increases on Wednesday, igniting a debate that is likely to grip the country for years." NY Times, November 11, 2010

P… Read full post »

hink about it. Maybe you don't want to. But you'd better, because it's not too soon and it  doesn't seem so far-fetched.  

Last week's New York Magazine painted a provocative scenario in which Sarah Palin is elected President in 2012: the billionaire mayor Michael Bloombe… Read full post »

My sister the cook (not to be confused with my sister the research librarian) and I were reminiscing about Milwaukee the other day. We grew up there, third generation locals on my dad’s side. In those long-ago days, Milwaukee was largely German and Polish. One of Dad’s favorite restaurant… Read full post »

Like most children, I was frightened by strange sounds, eerie apparitions and  things that went bump in the night. Yet I was addicted to scary stories by Brothers Grimm, and scary characters like the Russian witch Baba Yaga, and the restless monster known as Le Loup Garou.

Folklore had i… Read full post »

Last April, if you will recall, the Arizona Legislature passed an immigration bill that allows state and local police to demand documentation of those who are suspected of being in the United States illegally and then to arrest those who fail to provide it. Described as a necessarily tough mea… Read full post »

I've been waiting for The Event with a combination of anticipation and trepidation. On the plus side: a mysterious premise, tireless (endless?) promotion, 24’s executive producers and a mostly terrific cast (Blair Underwood as a Cuban-American President!  Laura Inne/… Read full post »

 When I first moved to New York, the locals, it seemed, were more than ready to offer advice on anything, whether you asked or not: where to shop, where to eat, which subway to take, who to vote for, who to root for, or the best way to get where you… Read full post »

 In the autumn and winter months following my husband’s death on 9/11, my strength came from the architects and designers with whom I’d been associated for several years. I was at the time public relations director of a large architecture and interior design firm in New York. I loved… Read full post »