When I picked up Lori Gottlieb’s book, Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough, which came out in February, it was with skepticism. I have spent the last three years interviewing dozens and dozens of single 30-something women around the country for Seeking Happily Ever After, a feature-length documentary that I’m making with Kerry David about this generation’s struggle to redefine the fairytale. We look at why the number of never-married 30-something women in the U.S.
Her words stop me cold, freeze my deep and purposeful breathing.
“What,” I think, “did that crazy hippie lady just say?”
I try to resume the assigned task, mindfully inhaling the chilled air of the fitness center and balancing my sharp sitz bones on a borrowed blue cushion. I will my swirling mind to settle softly like a leaf to the ground. But Mary Love continues to hijack my piss-poor attempts at being in the now.
The Jewish Sabbath is a festival of liberation, but for the uninitiated, it can also be quite a workout. No work is done on Shabbat, no commerce transacted. In the first winter of my observance, I diligently prepared Shabbat dinner every week, rose early on Saturday morning and walked two miles to synagogue. My enthusiasm carried me that far, but once I left shul, my resolution faltered.
What does a life cost? In 1987, I knew exactly: $150,000. One of my major responsibilities as a hospital department manager was obtaining authorization from insurance companies for bone marrow transplantations. The insurance companies had an equally fierce responsibility to try to deny them. With the help of the oncologists and hematologists I worked for, I wrangled by telephone and mail with authorization specialists for months on end.
By lis2813, Tuesday, February 02, 2010, 0 comments
HerStory: Carol Kingston Jankowski, 53, of Pembroke, who is a librarian and jewelry designer.
PRIDE AND JOY: I am supremely proud of my two children, both college graduates, and best of friends. The most joyful part of my life is spent with my delightful 18-month-old grandson Calvin. He is curious, joyful, loving, affectionate and always "in the moment." I am also very proud of my very recent foray into jewelry making.
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 0 comments
your party planning. International Women’s Day is March 8 and the Global Fund for Women will help you plan, coordinate and organize events to raise visibility and support for the Global Fund.
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 4 comments
n my house I don’t need a calendar to chart the passage of time. I can plot the years by my husband’s passions. 2009 was The Year of the China Obsession.
Marc decided he wanted to read ancient Chinese classics, and any old translations wouldn’t do. He cruised the Internet, compiling a master reading list from the web sites of the major universities offering courses in Chinese studies—Harvard, Princeton, the University of Chicago—wrote himself a syllabus and tracked down the books through Amazon. Now more than 30 books are piled on his bedside table, his own personal Great Wall of China: such classics as The Three Kingdoms; the six-volume The Dream of the Red Chamber; the Analects of Confucius; the I Ching; assorted myths and legends and, my personal favorite: China’s Examination Hell: Civil Service Exams of Imperialist China. The more arcane, the better.
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 6 comments
e hadn’t even made it down the aisle before the marital drama began. “This is the worst place I have ever stayed,” sobbed my mother-in-law as she checked into the hotel I had chosen for her—and for our other 90 wedding guests. Considering that she had grown up in the slums of Mumbai, this was a pretty harsh statement. On top of the hotel fiasco, the plane ride had been stressful, the morning coffee served cold, the drive to the wedding location too long... and clearly I was to blame. She brought me, the mild, no-drama bride, to tears. I was completely freaked out, wondering what kind of family I was marrying into. Did they expect a subservient daughter-in-law who would bend to their every whim? Was this going to be the reality of my cross-cultural marriage? This was not how I had imagined it.
n my house I don’t need a calendar to chart the passage of time. I can plot the years by my husband’s passions. 2009 was The Year of the China Obsession.
e hadn’t even made it down the aisle before the marital drama began. “This is the worst place I have ever stayed,” sobbed my mother-in-law as she checked into the hotel I had chosen for her—and for our other 90 wedding guests. Considering that she had grown up in the slums of Mumbai, this was a pretty harsh statement. On top of the hotel fiasco, the plane ride had been stressful, the morning coffee served cold, the drive to the wedding location too long... and clearly I was to blame. She brought me, the mild, no-drama bride, to tears. I was completely freaked out, wondering what kind of family I was marrying into. Did they expect a subservient daughter-in-law who would bend to their every whim? Was this going to be the reality of my cross-cultural marriage? This was not how I had imagined it.
