WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, MY MOTHER WHIRLED around the house like a cyclone, always racing against time. Mom ran the family insurance agency by day, pored over paperwork at night, and raised three children all the while. She countered Dad’s absences with her nonstop presence, managing to be in three places at once. She […]
The Tideline: Difficult choices
ANYONE HAUNTED BY A LIFE-CHANGING DECISION to step away from a passion or person will be intrigued by Nancy Deeds Resler’s captivating new memoir, “The Last Protégée.” Resler plans to lead a memoir writing workshop in Benicia on April 25. “The Last Protégée” explores Resler’s years as a classical pianist and her relationship with her […]
The Tideline: Free-range kids
NEW YORK MOTHER AND BLOGGER LENORE SKENAZY was flooded with criticism recently when she wrote about how she and her husband allowed their nine-year-old to ride the subway by himself. Judgmental comments poured in. “Don’t you know that children get kidnapped and murdered?” The experience led to Skenazy’s book, “Free Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, […]
The Tideline: Just keep swimming
TRADITIONALLY, THE START OF ANOTHER YEAR is a time for stating our intentions. Many of us want to identify what we need in the pursuit of happiness, what brings meaning to our existence. Resolutions are synonymous with hope, optimism and at least some level of confidence that one has the capacity to achieve what is […]
The Tideline: My American Dream, or how Lady Liberty kicked me over the goalpost
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! — The last lines of “New Colossus” the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty, by Emma Lazarus […]
The Tideline: On the eve of All Saint’s Day
GROWING UP, HALLOWEEN MEANT FREEDOM AND FOOLISHNESS. It meant wearing a costume, collecting candy, and eating too many treats. I walked the lettered streets of my subdivision with a small band of girls my age, our goal to knock on as many doors as we could. Back home, our biggest concern was separating the candy […]
The Tideline: Blue Jasmine
“SOMETIMES PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH because they don’t want their illusions destroyed,” noted philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In the Woody Allen film “Blue Jasmine,” Cate Blanchett portrays a woman reeling from a reversal of fortune and avoiding the truth that her husband was a Bernie Madoff-type swindler. Blanchett’s character reminisces about the past, […]
The Tideline: How I met your dad
THERE’S A NEW TELEVISION SERIES IN PRODUCTION called “How I Met Your Dad,” a takeoff on the series “How I Met Your Mother.” The way one’s parents got together is the start of one’s own life story. These warm June days leading up to Father’s Day provide a convenient excuse to tell the story of […]
The Tideline: The Call of Chagall
ONE OF MY GOALS IS TO VIEW every stained-glass window created by Marc Chagall and installed in a public place. My goal in mind, my friend Nick and I added a foray to Westchester County to the middle of a week in New York City. Our destination was the Union Church in Pocantico Hills, home […]
Kristine Mietzner: Moving lessons
AS I BEGIN MY 58TH YEAR, I feel blessed that my children are healthy, independent adults. So much time has passed and yet it seems like just yesterday I watched Anna and Ben take their first steps. Raising them, I released my grip slowly while they dashed to independence. We weren’t in the military, but […]