Maybe It’s Time For A Digital Diet

This essay originally appeared in Palo Alto Patch.

Juliet’s Balcony

I don’t know where I lost it. Perhaps on the train between Verona and Florence. Or at the restaurant overlooking the hills of Tuscany. It might have been at the nightmare-inducing Torture Museum in San Gigmignano. But it didn’t matter where it was, because now that my cell phone was gone, the rest of my trip to Italy would be about this unplanned and unwanted digital diet.

One For All And All For One? Some Thoughts On Mother’s Day

This essay originally appeared in Palo Alto Patch.

My beloveds who remind me why I do love Mother’s Day

Now that we are past the Hallmark part of the holiday, it’s time for some real talk about motherhood in America. Sure, I love that my three kids still make me breakfast in bed and give me cards that express their undying devotion (until, of course, I tell them they can’t take the car or stay out past their curfew). But let me tell you a few things I don’t love: