Being a spy is a choice for the parent but not for the kids — we’re born into secrecy. Years ago, I learned Stewart Copeland (drummer for ‘80s rock band The Police) had a dad in the CIA. I felt an instant kinship. It’s a unique club, the spy child one. We have more members …
I’m in this fascinating Podcast! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN Are our parents really who we think they are? Drummer with The Police, Stewart Copeland, sets out to uncover the truth about his father, Miles Axe Copeland ll – musician, raconteur, international businessman… and, it turns out, secret CIA operative. Going back to the 1940s …
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 …
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 …
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 …
It was a warm afternoon in early September when I arrived at the grocery store. Instead of sitting at home, waiting for a call from my primary doctor to tell me the results of a biopsy, I went to the Berkeley Bowl, one of the best health food stores in the Bay Area. A few …
On the thirty-seventh anniversary of my mother’s death, I left the house when it was still dark to swim in the swells and swift current of the San Francisco Bay. After I had left, a deer collided into our fence, breaking it and scattering posts across the walk. Then it upended rocks from the wall, …
Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as supreme court justice despite being accused of sexually attacking at least three women. Despite being a political operative. Despite his rash and biased behavior during the hearing. Despite all the loud objections. But it’s these objections, the breaking of silence, that matters most. All year, women and men have stood …
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how submerged I felt growing up – the fact that I was gay but not ready to be out, that my father had a secret job we never talked about (he was in the CIA), and the trauma of losing my mother to breast cancer in my junior …
A couple of years ago when I was in Tokyo, I heard about these places called “Owl Cafes.” I thought they would be peaceful rooms where people sat and drank tea and read books. Owls would be sitting on perches preening themselves or staring and relaxing. Somehow I imagined that they would be someone’s well …
