Columns

Maghreb Voices

Book: Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet Author: Amara Lakhous “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” – W.I. Thomas and D.S. Thomas (the “Thomas theorem”) “Working as a journalist, I’ve come to understand that the reality we confront has neither value nor weight. It’s the imaginary that governs our… Read more »

Dear Barb – Keeping Marriage Promises

Dear Barb: I just got married to a wonderful guy. Before we got married we had discussed that I would not change my name to his and he was okay with it, but now he’s changed his mind. He thinks I should take his name and because I don’t want to he feels I am… Read more »

In Conversation with Don Rosenthal, Part II

“To open the closed heart one first focuses on oneself: releasing feelings of unworthiness, accepting that the heart is closed, putting space around judgments, and seeing oneself clearly and honestly.” – Don Rosenthal in Learning to Love Don and Martha Rosenthal are the authors of a number of books for couples, including Learning to Love,… Read more »

In Conversation with Don Rosenthal, Part I

“The mind’s habit of closing the heart is tenacious, and the ego will persist in its ancient ways. You will doubtless stumble on the path many times. Nonetheless, change eventually begins …” – Don Rosenthal in Learning to Love “The truth is, although the mind will say It’s not safe to love, there’s never a… Read more »

Dear Barb

Dear Barb: I have been dating this amazing guy for about four months. We get along really well and rarely argue. We have a lot in common and I could see having a life with him, except for one thing, his two-year-old daughter! She lives with her mother, but spends every other weekend with Brian…. Read more »

Primal Numbers – Jeans and Germs

We live, arguably, in one of the cleanest times in history. From high-efficiency washers to hand sanitizers, there are machines and detergents to purify everything in sight. But in the midst of all this spotlessness comes a seemingly contrary piece of advice: you shouldn’t be washing your jeans. Is it a germy, unhealthy idea?or some… Read more »

From Where I Sit – Both Scary and Sad

Who needs a travel alarm clock when she has a smart phone? Who needs a Rolodex, quaint little purse-sized address book, or the five-pound Yellow Pages when everyone who’s anyone can be Googled? Who needs two-way radios when everyone and his brother have a cell phone? These are just some of the thoughts rattling around… Read more »

In Conversation with Jack Malmstrom, Part II

“Jazz washes away the dust of every day life.” – Art Blakey Jack Malmstrom is the swing clarinetist who put together Jack’s Cats, a vintage-style jazz sextet based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that also includes keyboardist Gordon Fader, guitarist Dylan Quinn, bassist Mark Roberts, drummer Dave Skinner, and vocalist Kitty Farmer. The project, which quite… Read more »

Primal Numbers – The Boys and the Bees

Let me tell you ’bout the boys and the bees. It’s the same as the birds and the bees (sex and biology and all that stuff) except there aren’t any girls. At least not in the research lab, where testing is almost always done on male subjects, from fruit flies to humans. There are big… Read more »