Serena Nanda

Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can’t Stand the Heat

Rose Madeline Mula Writes: “It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine’s only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air…
An Undocumented Childhood by Rose Madeline Mula

Rose Mula Writes: Some people never leave home without their American Express card; I never leave home without a camera. Digitized pictures of the twenty-five countries and forty-plus states of America that I’ve visited since my first tour of exotic New Hampshire constantly flash on my computer monitors and digital frames throughout my home, helping…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mind’s eye can still see the face of the Children’s Librarian, although I have long since forgotten her name. We will be wise to continue to back up our knowledge of history and literature and art and science with hard copy. She kept up with my reading level, suggesting writers and…
Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits … You Can Bet It’s Not Fashionable

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mother was a mini Imelda Marcos. She kept upwards of 40 pairs of shoes well into her 80’s, and was crushed when she had to give up high heels following a heart attack at the age of 89. Her sole criterion in buying shoes was style, not comfort, and she was…
Joan L.Cannon Wrote: A Family Inheritance: More Than ‘Things’ … Emblems of Our Lives

Joan Cannon wrote: As one advances in years, one accumulates possessions the way a caddis fly larva accumulates grit. The glue that makes us carry it all along with us is in a way self-secreted as well. However, it’s psychic rather than physical — emotional rather than material. Perhaps the most obvious example is a…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks

Julia Sneden wrote: At the age of 37, I started a new career as a kindergarten teacher. My first day on the job, the lead teacher, who was in her 70’s and scared me every bit as much as she scared the children, watched me writing a note. “You’ll have to change the way you…
Joan Cannon Writes: Finding the Right Excuse; Committing Words to Paper Because …

Joan Cannon Writes: Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer…
Joan Cannon Asked: What is a Book Club? An Old-Fashioned Book Report? A Program Given By an Author? What Is the Accepted Practice?

Joan L. Cannnon wrote: A year or so ago, I was invited to attend a tea given by the combined membership of all the book clubs in the town where I now live. A presentation was scheduled for the proprietor of the much-loved local independent book store cum gift shop. She is a legend in…
The Moral Test by Donald M. Berwick

“Our quest — for health care that is just, safe, infinitely humane, and that takes only its fair share of our wealth — our quest may not be as magnificent as the quest for human rights or for a sustainable earth, but it is immensely worthy. You stand, though you did not choose it, at…
The Trek Ahead: From the Ariège Pyrénées to Mongolia

Larry told me he had bought the little house I had fallen in love with, was putting his on the market, adding that we could move to France for good the following April. Now, race forward seven years and I, while enjoying it all; the weather, the lunches, the dinners, the endless festivals, had begun…
Barely Half of US Adults Are Married — A Record Low

Divorce is a factor in diminishing the share of adults who are currently married compared with 50 years ago. But divorce rates have leveled off in the past two decades after climbing through the 1960s and 1970s, so divorce plays less of a role than it used to
The Dickens 200th Birthday Celebration in 2012

In the US, there is UC Santa Cruz and the Dickens Universe and Project. In London, an exhibit that display examines the central relationship between Dickens and the city that he described as his ‘magic lantern’
Shop at the Supreme Court

The cookbook in honor of Martin Ginsburg, the late spouse of Justice Ruth Ginsburg, Chef Supreme, led us to the Court’s Historical Society site. It also features court-inspired jewelry, watches and games
The 25-Year Check-Up; Confessions of a Chronic Worrier

It occurs to me how useful it might have been had my darling grandmothers left me some idea of how the heck to deal with growing old. They both made it to 98, and while I doubt I’ll live that long, it might be instructive to learn how they retained positive attitudes, as they did
Living on the Edge in Brooklyn, New York

Sol and Marilyn Weltman live in Brighton Beach, New York and earn a yearly sum of just over $30,000 from Social Security. Like many senior citizens, they technically live above the poverty line, but they struggle to make ends meet
Twitter and The Campaign Examined by Pew

Gingrich has had the most unflattering narrative in news coverage of any GOP contender during the 7 months of the study — 17% positive, 33% negative and 50% neutral. The most discussed GOP contender in the blogosphere has been Romney, Ron Paul the most favorably discussed.
The Banned Books Advent Calendar

The purpose of the project is to promote public debate. Viewers can have their say on whether the books were banned for a sensible reason. “Books are still being burned, but the focus now is on online censorship”
Elizabeth and Her German Garden

I am always happy (out of doors be it understood, for indoors there are servants and furniture) but in quite different ways, and my spring happiness bears no resemblance to my summer or autumn happiness, though it is not more intense, and there were days last winter when I danced for sheer joy out in…