Everyone does it: from the Burmese and Balinese to the Inuit and Icelanders. In the United States, almost half of us do it, making it one of the most common of our shared rituals. We give thanks for our food with prayer, with rituals and dance, before meals, after eating, and in praise of a bountiful harvest. We thank someone,…
It doesn’t take long to get totally freaked out and stressed out of your mind, does it? Hell, it happens to me at least once a week. I’m afraid I locked my keys in my car! My wallet’s gone! When these types of daily scares occur, relief usually comes fast once you realize everything’s okay. But when stressors gain a…
I am sitting in the Good Stuff Diner on West 14th Street across from Nicky Vreeland, a maroon-robed Buddhist monk with deep smile lines. A gifted photographer with an exquisite W Magazine-sponsored exhibit at ABC Carpet & Home to benefit the Tibet Center, Vreeland has mentioned that he finds harmony in his pictures. “Did that train you for life as a monk?” I ask. “I think that…
When Julia Child said “Never apologize,” she was addressing the tendency of cooks—often female cooks—to insist on the insufficiency of their creations. This isn’t the way I meant it to turn out. I hoped it would be spicier. I’m sorry about the frosting. It’s not as pretty as I thought it would be. She thought these apologies had no place in learning—or…
The British filmmaker Christopher Nolan has followed the conclusion of his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, with Interstellar, a film that resembles 2001: A Space Odyssey in both its plot and its meaning: Humans get a message from beyond and follow it to deep space, where lies the destiny of the species. Matthew McConaughey is our captain, who leaves his family behind in…
Funny movie about madness and depression
A new book takes on the myth of the ‘lone genius.’
I was leading a workshop at a recent conference when a woman bravely said what so many in the room were thinking: “I feel like I’ve lost myself. I’ve lost my best self. I don’t know where I went.” Other women nodded in agreement. It is no wonder. We pack our days with “to dos,” responsibilities, and “shoulds.” We take…
No, I’m not from Ohio. Nor am I running to the store to buy Nike products—my son has more than enough already, thank you very much. That said, I do love the new TV commercial commemorating LeBron James’s return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. You don’t need to be a basketball fan to appreciate what the ad says about the power…
