My paternal grandmother was a young girl when she and her parents fled war-torn Greece for the United States. Beleaguered by the constant fighting between the Greeks and the Turks, they had seen family and friends slaughtered. America promised safety and shelter. My great-grandfather, Gus, landed in
Read more →
Today is my Uncle Dave’s birthday. He would be seventy-four. My mom’s younger brother died earlier this month, after battling complications from a single lung transplant. He takes with him a vast trove of memories and shared stories only he could retell, many of my mom. She
Read more →
Today is World Mental Health Day. Every October 10, the World Health Organization asks those working in the mental-health arena to talk about what we do, and discuss ways we can improve and expand mental-health care for everyone, everywhere. This year, the WHO is focused on suicide
Read more →
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was a Washingtonian, living near the Pentagon and working as an education reporter. As I darted to the subway, the sky glowed a crystalline blue. Later, everyone from D.C. to New York exchanged stories about the otherworldly brightness of that morning. How
Read more →If summer is about the wide embrace of warmth and wandering at will, the school year keeps freedoms of its own. The first day reveals a brand-new stage where unseen possibilities begin to dance. It is a time to let go, fraught with questions and the promise
Read more →
My dad was cool. I didn’t see him that way when I was a kid. Once I became a parent myself, I came around to acknowledging he’d been a good parent. But it wasn’t until after he passed away that I glimpsed the cool guy he was
Read more →
When the Allies stormed five beaches in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, 160,000 troops swung into action—along with one woman. Martha Gellhorn, a war correspondent, was the only female to join their ranks. She was the first journalist to reach the beaches and report on what
Read more →
All good writing follows a style manual. These literary anchors add order to the sometimes-untidy universe we writers and editors inhabit. They salt our books with wisdom and pepper them with grace. Whether it’s The Chicago Manual of Style, The Associated Press Stylebook, or APA Style, every
Read more →
** spoiler alert ** The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is a raw, vivid, moving account of two women’s stories: Evelyn Gardiner, a spy in World War I and nicknamed Eve, and Charlotte “Charlie” St. Clair, an American searching for her French cousin lost in World War
Read more →The year is off to busy start in the postpartum-news world. Last week, the federal government approved the first-ever drug designed specifically to treat postpartum depression. Last month, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released new guidelines for preventing perinatal depression. These recommendations are also being reported
Read more →