Notes on Failure

Fail again. Fail Better. --S. Beckett

Padma Viswanathan

Padma Viswanathan
Bio
Padma Viswanathan is a fiction writer, playwright and journalist. Her first novel, The Toss of a Lemon, was published in 2008. Originally Canadian, she now lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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JANUARY 10, 2010 9:35AM

Cleaning House

 

Two years ago, seven months pregnant with a second child, I decided to hire house cleaners. I had some problems with the idea, as do many guilt-prone liberals, but I also had problems with a huge belly, a house left filthy by renters, a toddler to care for, and… Read full post »

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AUGUST 27, 2009 9:44AM

Desperately Emulating Ayelet

I couldn't resist the euphony of that title, so it's very obliging of Ayelet Waldman to be such a good subject for an essay about that poisonous but addictive (because what doesn't kill you makes you want more) blend of admiration and jealousy that I get for women writers I
… Read full post »
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APRIL 13, 2009 10:46PM

A Second Class Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Hermione Lee, whose marvelous biography of Virginia Woolf I’m currently reading, tells us that Woolf applied the same clear-eyed and unstinting analysis to her father, Leslie Stephen, that she did to most of her subjects, subjects that tended to be Victorian, domestic, and preoccupied with the… Read full post »

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Editor’s Pick
MARCH 8, 2009 11:33PM

Alternatives to Recess

American public schools no longer have time to offer recess to children, despite research demonstrating that rest is essential to brain function (you can find many of these papers by Googling “Duh”or get a summary in this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/24well.h… Read full post »

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FEBRUARY 10, 2009 9:19PM

How you really care, if you care.

 

 

On January 18, “The Martin Luther King Day of Service,” I found myself thinking of liberals who recently donned hair shirts or boxing gloves (I prefer both) in response to the bewildering assertions made in Arthur C. Brooks's new book "Who Really Cares." As has now been

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 9, 2009 10:01AM

Stuffocation



Stuffocation

Together with all good Americans, I have spent the last month receiving stuff, sending thank-you notes for stuff, and giving reciprocal stuff--all of it thoughtfully chosen and appreciated, but still, way too stuff of a stuffness. And while exchanging and appreciating the new
… Read full post »
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