Olivia Newton-John has been quietly sitting on my Hero list for some time. She changed a lot of things for a lot of women. Not just for the prim, nerdy high school girls who flocked to “Grease” in theaters in the late ‘70’s — maybe seeing it more times than…

Gen-Z is front and center, what with their middle pocket graduating high school in these next weeks. Gen-Z is often defined as those born between 1997 and 2012. I’m a parent on the far end of that group, and I work in a university surrounded every single day with the…

One take on the age-old question of how-old-are-you: give your age with the year you were born and let others do the math. For me, this last week marks the end of one decade and the start of another, and all the baggage and reflection and promise and astonishment that…

You think it’s difficult to access, but it’s not, I promise you. That last shred of reserves, for empathy, for kindness, for being a decent human being, is still within reach. Here’s a little how-to on why helping others matters, and why guiding students to care out loud is rewarding…

If you are not one for the manufactured love-fest that is mid-February, come sit over here. Same. These heart-shaped days can be formidable for many. …

Done. If someone asks what my ‘word’ is for 2022: Done. Done quietly missing people, and opportunities. Done pretending things are sort-of-okay. Done suffering anyone gladly. Done trying to normalize the idea of ‘unprecedented’ (hello, ‘normal’ is the actual antonym here). Done working so so hard to keep our voice…

While this season is defined by waiting and hoping, of promises and stillness, it is also when some of us look inward, on the cracked and broken ground of what we believe, what we seek, and where to look for hope, guidance, faith. If this is you at all: I…

Messaging with a friend, about work and stress, people vying for power, and how to stay the high road, I closed out with “I’m the meantime,…”, followed by what I thought was decent relevant advice. Grrrr. Sigh. IN the meantime, IN IN IN. Not “I’m”. The typo, discovered too late…

We have a very shallow naming pool over here on my side of the family tree. Names repeat within and across generations, to the point where we kind of have this Power-5 thing going on. When I was a child, I was not a big fan of my own name…