My father was in the CIA. I’m trying to make peace with his complex legacy

During my freshman year at Boston University in 1983, my phone rang in the early morning hours. I stumbled across my messy dorm room and picked up the receiver. It was Dad. After a quick greeting, he said, ‘Listen — the US is going to invade Grenada. I’m telling you before it hits the news.’ …

Women, Girls, and LGBT Fight for Rights in Myanmar.

Apr 15, 2021 In early February, women, girls and members of the LGBT community hit the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other cities throughout Myanmar to protest the country’s military takeover. Protesters—many of them young women—have continued to marched, beat pans and hang their undergarments (known as htamein) in creative and colorful protest, not just against …

How a Wig Made Me Love My Baldness

I began sheltering in place long before the virus, the day I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At fifty-four, I went from being an active, organic food-eating, open water-swimming, yoga-loving person who rarely had occasion to go to the doctor, to someone requiring a myriad of medications, appointments, and hospital visits. It started after a …

Total Immersion: Swimmers take the plunge

JULY 14, 2019 Every September, the South End Rowing Club—a historic nonprofit swimming, rowing and handball club in Aquatic Park—hosts its annual fundraiser, the Alcatraz Invitational swim, where people come from all over the world to swim the roughly one mile distance from The Rock to San Francisco. Usually in the low 60s, the Bay is …

Get In Good Spirits At Savage & Cooke Whiskey Distillery

JULY 14, 2019 It’s a perfect day for bourbon—overcast and gray—when I arrive on Mare Island, a small peninsula around 30 miles northeast of (and just over a one-hour ferry ride away from) San Francisco. I’m here for a VIP tour of the Savage & Cooke whiskey distillery, given by Napa wine icon Dave Phinney. He’s best known …

Hair

Before my first chemo treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, when I knew my hair would start falling out, I went to my hairstylist. I wanted to feel in charge of what I had little control over—cancer.  She gave me a short cut and for a couple of weeks, it was the new me. Completely buzzed on …

Chemotherapy

My first days of cancer treatment were tender and profound. I had an aggressive form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which necessitated hospital stays to deliver the medication. I got through these treatments by being with my body and noticing what it had to say to me. This post is about one of my earliest experiences with …