ArcaMax

A TikTok video I saw the other day suggested that I should reclaim my attention to the present. Mid-scroll, the app that makes money off my distracted brain suddenly wanted me to log off and be present. That's like the bartender telling you to quit drinking while he pours the next shot.

Be present, as if the present is some enchanted meadow we'...Read more

DEAR READERS: Do you think being me is easy? Do you think being behind a computer much of the day -- pounding out advice meant to be helpful -- is all fun and games? Well, think again. Just recently, some pretty strong stuff came my way from online readers (creators.com) who were simply delighted to have a chance to vent. Their reactions follow....Read more

My daughter and her best friend started their own business. They made business cards and put the QR code to their Red Cross babysitting certification on the back. Their first client was a neighbor with a toddler who came to our house, where I could watch all three of them, and be a business respite program. I overheard one of them lament after ...Read more

Her phone call startled me. The distraught woman on the other end spoke in rapid-fire sentences, most of them half-finished. Every word was confused, jumbled. But after some time, it became clear that her husband of 30 years was leaving the marriage. He wanted to live alone. In a way, he had already gone; they hadn't had sex in a year, and the ...Read more

I've spent most of my career as a freelance writer being a generalist. You don't delve too much into one subject because, really, you can find an expert on a topic who would love to rattle on with acronyms for at least a solid hour.

It's been one of the privileges of journalism to meet with people who believe in your capacity to share their ...Read more

As long as we're on the subject of partnership in love -- aren't we always? -- and the difference it can make, this might just be the right time to look at what it is that's prodding you toward commitment. The most common reason, of course, is to banish loneliness forever. Many of us enter (and stay in) a relationship primarily to avoid being ...Read more

I used to believe in quiet resistance. You choose the right moments to slip wrenches into the gears without drawing the guard's attention. Movies love a covert operator like the whistleblower or the silent saboteur who knows that noise gets you caught. But we're not in the movies.

Lately, the vibes, as the kids would say, feel different. There'...Read more

Trust me. What I'm about to suggest is beneficial. Yes, it may fall into the category of auto-suggestion, but it's the healthy kind. So healthy, indeed, it may very well make you stronger and abler to bring your life in line with your deepest wishes. And isn't that what we all want? Now that we're agreed on that, let's move on to the good stuff....Read more

I used to use the website, the Wayback Machine, to find incriminating teenage poetry on long-lost LiveJournal accounts written by people who are now normal accountants and thought their old emo phase wasn't going to haunt them. Yesterday, I used the Wayback Machine to see a government website delete parts of the Constitution.

The chaos is real,...Read more