I admit that Samantha is my favorite character from Sex and the City. She’s confident, free-spirited and lives her life on her own terms. But one of the major parts of her character is her obsession with sex. I often consider what she would be like as a real person. On the show, her antics are portrayed as funny and…
I know a number of men who seemed to make a point of marrying women who posed no threat of outshining their achievements—or even matching them. This viewpoint is no surprise in light of research by psychologists Kate Ratliff of the University of Florida and Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia reported in a recent issue of the Journal…
By Eve Hogan I was once working with a group of teenagers discussing “integrity agreements,” which I described as “either spoken or unspoken agreements not to hurt each other.” These integrity agreements are the fabric of our society. This belief, that we won’t harm each other, is what allows us to walk down the street without worrying about getting shot…
What does the concept of “home” really mean to us? Does it mainly refer to a place that gives us a feeling of utmost security in our surroundings? And, whatever it might mean, as we age, is it possible to transfer our sense of home to another spot on the map? In my mother’s case, circumstances are forcing her to…
I used to love listening to my grandmother talk. Raised in Ohio but a Southerner for the bulk of her adult life, she had a quirky accent. When she came to visit us in New York, my younger brother and I would jump onto her bed every morning and demand that she read to us. This gave us more time…
I was really taken with Karla McLaren’s latest book, The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill (Sounds True), in which she explores the varieties of empathy in our lives. After I’d finished reading (and copiously underlining) I had a few questions, and Karla was kind enough to answer them. AP: You call yourself an “empath,” which…
Little did I know when I was beginning my journey as a mother 13 years ago that I would someday be speaking with Melinda Blau, who collaborated with the late Tracy Hogg on the Baby Whisperer books. When I was introduced to her recently, I recalled just how important those books had been to me when my first child was…
