We all have to eat. Unfortunately, eating well is a challenging task in our country. Thanks to some great books, documentaries, educational efforts, and even the First Lady, problems with our food culture receive a lot of attention these days. Organics are finding their way into stores like WinCo and Walmart. Fast Food restaurants are [...]

One of the treasures that I mined from Dad’s library is a leather-bound Common Book of Prayer, complete with hymnal.  My Dad was certainly a man of prayer, but he didn’t have a liturgical bent. I don’t know how he came by this beautiful edition, but he clearly didn’t use it. The binding was stiff [...]

With money there is no way to avoid the cold, hard facts.  You must put at least as much dough into the bank as you withdraw, or else you will run out of money.  Maybe your bank will cover some of your overdrafts, but they will charge a hefty fee for their trouble and you’ll be [...]

Discrimination. Stereotyping. Ridicule. Judgment.
 
There are people who experience open discrimination in stores, restaurants, and places of employment. Comedians joke about them. Children cruelly tease and reject them. They are regarded by many as dumber, dirtier, and lazier than other people. Social biases work against them in subtle and overt behaviors. All of these actions and [...]

It may not come as a surprise that I am prone to a bit of cynicism. I love parodies.  I watch the Onion News Network and the Daily Show.  I love Christopher Guest movies. I’ve learned to keep it from showing most of the time, but I can roll my eyeballs with the skill of [...]

Bob Wiley said that there are two kinds of people in this world – those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t. I would argue that the bifurcation of humanity has nothing to do with Neil Diamond and everything to do with sleep patterns. Are you a “morning person” or a “night person?”
If you [...]

Does your life ever feel like a perpetual game of Whack-a-Mole?  Responsibilities popping up faster than you can beat them down? This is my life. Work today. WHACK! Load of laundry. WHACK! Shower and dress myself. WHACK! Reply to someone’s email (from last week). WHACK! Pay a bill – late. WHACK! Feed the baby. WHACK! [...]

Here I sit in the darkness of my dining room at about 5:00 in the morning. If you know me, you know that sleeping is not usually a problem for me. In fact, I usually have more trouble with the getting up part. But as with many women near the end of their pregnancies, [...]

Regret is an awful feeling. It’s that sense of wishing more than anything you could go back in time and make something different, when you are steeped in the painful outcome of a past decision. Regret can also be complicated. Our choices, and their outcomes, shape who we are. They give us [...]

Big changes often take place in small, incremental steps. Often they begin when we have the courage, or the simple curiosity, to ask a question. One question that has slowly been motivating change in my life is this: “Where does my food come from?”
It was several years ago that this seemingly obvious question first began [...]