My guest blogger Mirinda Kossoff, who grew up in small-town Danville, VA, shares a powerful recollection in What I Did Not Know About Racism of what it was like to grow up in the South one hundred years after the Civil War. She has lived and worked in Japan and England as well as the United States. Mirinda has been a career chameleon: from social worker to newspaper editor to metalsmith and jewelry designer. She
The Surprising Bliss of the Non-Consumer One of the best things I’ve done lately is to set up a weekly conversation with an accountability buddy. I talked about doing this for years but just started during shutdown—partly because video calls make it easy, and partly because other things disappeared off my calendar. My accountability buddy is not part of my household. This turns out to be key. I don’t sit across the breakfast table wondering
Different Boats – Same Ocean I recently gave a sermon at my UU church and it struck me afterwards how aligned it was with my Manifesto – with the exception that I have, since, moved on to grey hair. Of course, it should be aligned. The same experiences and life events shaped me and my alter ego Stella in identical ways, as you would expect. The title I chose ‘Different Boats – Same Ocean’ is
Diamonds Upstaged by Sex Toys They say that a dog is a man’s best friend. They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But a woman’s best friends are her sex toys. Don’t you wish you owned a sex toy company? As the pandemic continues, sales are way up both for conventional sex toys and for the (previously underperforming) teledildonics market. In case you’re wondering, “teledildonics” refers to Bluetooth-enabled sex toys that allow
Dare to Enjoy It is easy for me to notice when I am wronged as a woman, as an older person; it is much harder to notice my privilege. And when I do glimpse my privilege it can be difficult to remain in joy. I am looking out the window of my study in the North Carolina woods. It’s sunrise and the light is blue and yellow behind the black outlines of leafy trees. A
Pandemic Strategies – What Can a Sexy Old Woman Do? Did you ever expect to see an official government document recommend sexting and sending sexy pictures? Neither did I. But among the many plot twists of the last few months we have this official memo from New York City on how to enjoy sexuality without spreading COVID-19. It’s all about the joys of masturbation, video dates, sexting and chat rooms. Taking it even further, the
