After college, my friend Lisa and I packed two enormous duffel-bags full of our belongings and moved to Japan. One of my favorite attempts to absorb Japanese culture was bathing at the local onsen -- a public bath complete with hot, medium and freezing tubs of water. ...

While walking with my 8-year-old son near our home in Manhattan, he spotted a purple swastika scrawled across a billboard advertisement. As I took in the complexities of the situation, my son uttered words that made my heart break… Across the nation, anti-Semitic bias cases have been capturing news...

Having neither spectacular accomplishments nor grave misfortunes to report, and, to be honest, having exhausted the vein of humorous family anecdotes over the years, I will tell you instead that we are all well and fine, and hope that you are too.

Ah, Black Friday.  The most ironic holiday of the year! Shopping list in hand, sharp elbows at the ready — this is the day we beat back our fellow man in the quest for that perfect holiday gift for our loved ones.  Coming at the heels of Thanksgiving, it’s...

Bright and early this morning, my 8-year-old son and I walked over the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn for our annual NYC Marathon ritual. This fall rite involves hot chocolate for him and a cappuccino for me as we stake our positions in a patch of sunlight near the 11th...

Unbelievably, I've arrived at the end of the Year to Live project. I've learned from others that the "dissolution of the body" meditation which symbolically closes the class is a powerful one. Frankly, I'm scared of it. One person I know who experienced it said that...

In the days before class, I found myself going through all of my possessions, clutching photos of family, friends and places, wishing the teacher had asked for 10 things instead of 5. But being the ever-dutiful student, here are the 5 I came up with...

I longed to be grounded once again in the reality of my everyday life. The familiar messiness. These very piles of paper. My work. The cacophony of street noises on my New York block. The personalities that drive me to distraction.