Blogs
I'm just old enough to remember microfiche and card catalogues. When I started my undergraduate education, the Internet existed, but barely. I dialed into America Online from my dorm room and...
Blogs
When you live in France, you don't get Thursday off work for Thanksgiving. As disappointing as this is, Thanksgiving has seemed the least of the major holidays I have to give up as an expatriate. I...
Blogs
I owned one of the first iPods. I still own it, as a matter of fact. It will no longer hold a charge for more than ten seconds but works fine sitting on top of a mini stereo. I've had my second iPod...
Blogs
Where I live in France, the place of the duck is on a menu – magret de canard, canard laqué, and most importantly, foie gras de canard. I recently received two—very much alive, yellow, and...
Blogs
We had never sat in row ten before. Usually, my boarding pass has a number like 42J on it, code for “next to toilet.” I mentally explained this new placement away by inferring that the...
Blogs
The rear window of my car grinds slowly open. It's an old car, with a manual window, and a little hand is doing the turning. A little “fwwp” cuts through the blowing that was already...
Blogs
I enrolled my four-year-old son in judo for lack of a better option. Soccer didn't begin in my town until the next year, so for boys, judo or karate were about the only preschool choices. My...
Blogs
My introduction to the Dukan diet took place a couple of years ago, as a witness to what I perceived as my dear friend's temporary loss of sanity. “I'm doing a protein day,” my usually normal...
Blogs
Spring has arrived, and I know I'm not the only one desperately trying to shed the pounds from winter's indulgence. I'll hit an aerobics class when I can, go running, or do lunges and light...
Blogs
I'm addicted to Top Chef. I'll watch new episodes and old episodes alike; I even watch the French version (the Top Chef franchise is indeed worldwide). Is this because I love to cook? Think...
Blogs
One of the dumbest questions ever said out loud? Maybe. The dumbest song lyric ever? Doubt it. I've been as mystified as any of you by the Rebecca Black phenomenon, maybe even more so, sitting...
Blogs
As a writing teacher, I've found myself confronted by more examples of plagiarism than I care to count. In the beginning of my career, this shocked me, affronted me, and occasionally, humiliated me....
Blogs
Last year, I bought one of those planning calendars, the ones where you can write in the names of each family member, and their activities for each day of the month. Not one to be terribly organized...
Blogs
I was lying on a mat at the gym, stretching (but mostly lying) when I spotted a tight pack of pretty people descending on one of the studios for classes. Mob mentality took over, and I persuaded...
