Someone recently called me a “professional conventional wisdom assassin,” which I really loved. It’s true – society feeds us all kinds of expectations about how pieces of our life are supposed to go. When our narrative doesn’t fit that, it [...]
About 50 years ago, Martin Seligman studied learned helplessness at the University of Pennsylvania. In the study, he put dogs into cages and administered electric shocks. The dogs tried to escape, but eventually resigned themselves to the fact that they [...]
I want autonomy. I want to be an island, a rock, free as a bird, self-sufficient. I want to need no one. I want to be able to care for all of my own needs. I want the freedom to [...]
Consent is a hot topic on the internet right now, and there are a lot of great metaphors out there for how it works. There’s an article that’s been going around about borrowing a friend’s car, one about stealing money, [...]
A gleaming clock adorned with precious gems loomed majestically over the ballroom. Cinderella glanced up at it anxiously. “Oh, dear,” she thought, “11:45. In 15 minutes, my coach shall become a pumpkin. My horses shall become rats who, for some [...]
This morning, I went to an Emmy’s “For Your Consideration” event for the TV show “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” where the show’s producers, including frontwoman Rachel Bloom, were interviewed. “It’s amazing, what you’ve done here,” said the interviewer. “And this is [...]
About 10 years ago, my friend Harrison tossed a CD at me and said, “you have got to hear this album.” At the time, Harrison and I were deep into a genre of music called wizard rock, which was – [...]
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic 90s television show Dawson’s Creek, Entertainment Weekly Magazine reunited the cast and did a beautiful photoshoot. I wanted to do the same thing, but James Van der Beek wouldn’t return my calls. [...]
When I was 15 years old, a friend and I bought tickets to the movie Mission to Mars and didn’t see it. Instead, not yet old enough to buy tickets to an R-rated movie, we snuck into American Beauty. And [...]
As I was driving home from work today, my friend Carolyn called me on the phone and told me about her rough day. Her boss had told her that he wanted her to something, and she felt that it was [...]