As August got underway, I decided to use the month as a kind of retreat. I didn’t have a clear vision of what this would be when I made the decision, and I still don’t. The past two weeks have had a staycation energy, though I’ve been working as usual. When I’m not working, I’m taking neighborhood walks, discovering local sights and sounds that I don’t usually notice. Taking advantage of my roof. Enjoying the less-boisterous quality of NYC in August. This has…

Normally I draft this Sunday post from my sofa or desk seat. Today, I put my hot cup of coffee into a tumbler, tucked my computer under my arm, and went up to my building’s roof to write it instead. The fact that I live in a building with a roof that’s suitable for sitting is so cool. When I moved into my current studio, this felt like a perk that was almost too good to be true. I immediately got to fantasizing…

I made a quick overnight trip yesterday to visit my best friend and her family before summer ends. My train was full, and on the ride up I was seated next to a talented young artist who’s also building an online business. The artist wasn’t only eager to tell me about his creative work. His eyes also lit up as he described the entrepreneurial solutions he’s found to support and sustain his art. As he spoke, I remembered how motivated I felt when…

I’ve been fortunate to see a few wonderful dance performances this summer. The first was a performance of Glass Pieces in May, which I wrote about the following Sunday. In the past two weeks, I’ve seen productions of Romeo & Juliet and Like Water for Chocolate. Three very different kinds of dance performances, spanning the distance from classic to contemporary. Each one of them was exhilarating. I’ve always loved going to the ballet, but I didn’t use to prioritize it as much as…

I had a chat this week with someone who studies the sensation of difference, or otherness. He described a cohort of people who don’t assimilate into their peer groups seamlessly at the stage of early development when such integration is to be expected. According to him, feeling like an outsider is a way of being that can work for and against people. On the one hand, perceived otherness might create shame or secrecy. It might cause people to hide their true selves, to…

I’ve been on a summer vacation in Portugal for the last week. As is the case with most trips, the time has flown, and I can’t believe I’ll be home soon. It usually takes me a little while to find my bearings when I travel. I also have a track record of planning holidays that involve a few destinations and revising my plans in real time; in the case of this trip, I traded the beach time I’d planned on for more city…

In my thirties, when a lot of my friends did a lot of traveling, I generally stayed put. The reasons were mostly practical; I had a prolonged period of grad school, which put limitations on budget and time. Sometimes it’s easier to tell ourselves that we don’t want something we can’t have. I’ve always had this tendency, and it has led me to tell myself a lot of stories that aren’t true, or which don’t stay true for long. I spent those years…