Richard Avedon, the photographer who “invented” modern fashion photography, had a career spanning sixty years, and the MFA is hosting one stupendously fashionable retrospective of his work. Put your best dress on, Martha, because you are going to want to go. Dorian Leigh, hat by Paulette, Paris studio, August 1949 Photograph Richard Avedon © The [...]

I have a curiously intimate relationship with the World Cup. Far and Away My first encounter with the World Cup was in Ireland circa 1990, where I was living at the time. I was trying to find myself a bedsit (a.k.a. a studio  apartment), and one afternoon I left work early in order to wander [...]

My father taught me so many things, among them: I wasn’t good enough; Me being me was a pain in the ass to others; My intelligence was something to be embarrassed about; I didn’t know anything that was important; I could be anything I wanted to be, as long as it was what he wanted [...]

They won’t remember that it was late, but they’ll remember that it was wrong. Jus’ sayin’.

Even though the tragic loss of Buffy at Thanksgiving was heartbreaking and horrible, we both knew that we would, when we were ready, adopt another kitten. Getting a Kitten for a Cat One of the things we realized about Buffy was that she didn’t want/need a feline companion, but of course we only realized that [...]

The head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, said of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, “The damage, destruction and loss of life are just overwhelming.” Maybe it’s because I played Winston Churchill in 8th grade, but my only thought when I heard that was, “You are the head of the United Nations, dude, [...]

Dear Martin, I was five-going-on-six when you were murdered. I was a little white girl living in a nice working-to-middle-class seacoast neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. I can’t say I remember anything about your murder, although as I grew up the the three murders that defined the country were never far from anyone’s recall. First President [...]

I need to get this out up front: I hated this movie. I. Hated. This. Movie. Why? It was a crap movie. It was boring. It was boring because the story was dull and derivative and just more of the same-old same old. And I was pissed off that I had to sit through nearly [...]

The backstory One of my most memorable Christmases occured many years ago when I ended a relationship on Christmas Eve day: we had been seeing each other for over a year and I was terribly fond of the fellow, but I could no longer pretend that his excessive drinking didn’t bother me. Since he didn’t [...]

This is Buffy. We got her when she was this big.