When I was four years old, an angel left me my very own Christmas tree. I lay on a soft twin bed, tucked in the corner of a wood-paneled...

I met “The Roses Man” when I was  5 or 6 years old, attending Franklin Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey. I was freshly...

When I was five, my heaven was a tiny dusty theater at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. My father taught music history there....

Sarah Polley’s Women Talking is a beautiful ensemble piece, in which women gather to discuss how to handle a violent crisis. The...

Somehow, I have become an activist. This was never my intent. All I ever planned was to write my memoir. I did not intend to be a public...

My mother used to tell me, “You're too sensitive.” It was a repeated refrain, deployed when I cried too long or hurt too much. She said...

I have been a patient and a doctor, on both sides of the bed. I have sat with injured people, processing their trauma. I have also been...

At the end of a weary work week, I sprawled on the couch ready to watch a movie. I wanted to be entertained by someone else’s problems...

(Part 5 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I spoke to a psychic two weeks before my recent operations. The psychic is a friend, an...

(Part 4 in the series Choosing More Surgery) I have always loved “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I identify with Dorothy in The Wizard of...

(This is Part 3 in the series "Choosing More Surgery." See here for Part 1 and here for Part 2) “How are you doing today?” asked my...

by Samuel Moore-Sobel, guest blogger (I am honored to host Samuel Moore-Sobel, as guest writer for this blog. You can learn more about...

A year ago, I sat eating lunch with my new friend, Betsy. We met when our kids performed in high school theater together. We both...