Nickel and dimed

I just finished reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, a scathing indictment of welfare reform and its effect on the lives of the working poor in the U.S. In the book’s conclusion, Ehrenreich writes, “when someone works for less pay than she can live [...]

Whether weather

It rained for a short time last night. Rain is unusual in the desert. I don’t own an umbrella, raincoat, or any rain gear, for that matter. Showers rarely last long enough to require rain paraphernalia. Now that I think about it, in the desert, we don’t have “weather” in our vocabulary. We talk about [...]

Paris… on my own

Enjoying the first two weeks of January alone in Paris (i.e., without travel companions to whom I felt obliged to play tour guide) and without a personal tourist agenda was heavenly. I rented a cozy apartment off rue des Martyrs in the 9th (Opéra) arrondissement where Sacre Coeur overlooks the quartier like a grande dame [...]

Which book are you?

A friend, who I refer to as “the muse of my online life,” blogged about a personality test she recently discovered. By answering only six questions, it is possible to learn which book represents your personality. My attempt at the test identified me as Siddhartha. The precision of the personality description is uncanny… except for [...]