Who doesn’t want to be an observer? Who wouldn’t like to notice something others overlook? For a few days I’ve been trying to come up with a single bad trait associated with being an observer, but like dolphins and rainbows, observers just seem wholly good. Which is
Last month I was in New York for a week and among the many small humiliations I endured—my husband and I were auditioning our family for preschool—was this one: I had to ask a clerk in a very famous children’s bookstore if they carried any of the
Americans love their cars--as chariots, mobile offices, and teenage make-out spots. But when did they become dining tables?
What sort of gardener looks forward to winter's first frost? Our in-house green thumb doubts herself after seeing what an expert Virginia gardener--and her garden--looks like.
I’ve been thinking a lot about beginnings. Partly this is because it is fall and as the child of an academic, autumn is the year’s first season for me, a much more persuasive time for starting over than bleak midwinter, no matter how much Champagne is involved. Partly,
In the past five years the U.S. has had no closer partner than the U.K., and though it's not always a perfect marriage, Yanks and Brits can still come together to solve a problem--even on the steps of the British Library.
The stereotype that dads don't show much skill or interest in child-rearing should have gone out when you were still in diapers—so why does it persist?
When a loved one's houseplants are divided up, what you get isn't a condition of your standing as a relative, but of your ability as a gardener. Our writer has a story of memory and maintenance, and the discovery of a special bond.
Tired of having your work rejected by editors left and right? The Frustrated Amateur Writers Network may be just what you need to jump-start your writing career. They won't be able to get you published--but they can help you feel better about it.
Gardeners love to commune with nature. Though not as much as they love to commune with ice cream and plasma screens and loud noises and personality quizzes. Our writer reports from the middle of 33 indoor acres of plants.
