Walking alone in warm weather brings unwelcome attention. — Today I took a solo walk down to the park near where I live. A sidewalk was installed last year, which is a huge improvement over the awkward, terrifying, hug-the-side-of-the-road tactic I undertook for the first year or so that I lived here. It was in the 70s and I…

Please show us how much better you are by refusing to profit off an outdated, anti-feminist anthem — Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her six earliest albums has been a delight for many of her fans. We’ve been given the gifts of shiny new merch, a bevy of unreleased (so-called Vault) tracks, and Swift’s epic performance of the ten-minute version of “All Too Well” on SNL. The re-recordings are…

Audience members disrespect performers and the fans around them with distracting behavior — The stories of people wilding out at concerts keep coming, fast and furious, with bizarre occurrences popping up in the news seemingly every week. Bebe Rexha was hit in the face by a cell phone thrown by a member of the audience, and Pink was surprised mid-performance by someone tossing…

Aging gracefully means accepting — and not trying to hide — my scars — One of the many characters you’ll come across in modern society is the Scarf Lady: a woman above a certain age that always seems to camouflage her neck. She wears silky scarves in the summer — Hermes, or other brands that are as tough to pronounce as they are to…

Professional sports leagues are exploiting the fractured streaming environment at the expense of fans — The first time I moved to New England from my home state of Pennsylvania, I wasn’t prepared for how much I would struggle to watch sports. Not just any sports, but my teams — the Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers. I listened to radio broadcasts over the Internet (quaint, I know…

Secret single behaviors reveal a lot about our personalities and priorities — My husband does the grocery shopping in our household, and when he travels for work, the shopping list right before he leaves is quite consistent. He makes sure we pasta and sauce, and brings home a protein that will best accompany the two. …

Talk about the writing, not the behavior — it’s elementary — The fourth member of our writing group joined the meeting over a half-hour late, with no apologies. She sent an email prior to the meeting, saying she had to take her dog to the vet. “No worries,” we told her. “It’s all fine.” …

We’re celebrating stories of ordinary people simply surviving in America — The brief feel-good story at the close of the nightly news broadcast, or reels on Instagram meant to inspire viewers to feel hopeful about the state of the world, instead reveal the toxicity of American society. Take this story out of Texas last February about a custodian that went back…

People are still dying from Covid, but we’re pretending the pandemic is over — Look, I don’t want to be writing this essay any more than you want to be reading it. But the truth is scary, and knowing the truth is essential if we want to stay safe. …