I tell people I got into public relations because I wanted to be a writer. The catalog for Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications listed writing as a core PR skill, and I was too practical to major in something more creative. However, I think the real reason is…

“Mommy, what kind of shoes do kidnappers wear?” My thirteen-year-old daughter, Izzy, just got home from school, and she’s telling me a new joke. “I don’t know. What kind?” “White Vans!” I laugh, impressed because this one didn’t begin with “Knock knock.” I retell it to a bunch of people…

Literary First Drafts: Me vs. ChatGPT Who’s better at generating an essay first draft? ChatGPT or me? I considered this on my drive to work as I was dictating notes into my phone for a first draft. …

In January 2020, I made a pact with my friend, Starla. We’d hold ourselves accountable to joy for one year. We named it The Joy Project and it became a lifeline as we tumbled through the pandemic. I’d always been skeptical of gratitude practices because sometimes life sucks and when…

Ed met me at the office to save the plants. It was a Tuesday in March after we’d gone into quarantine. A few weeks earlier, he and I had closed down the office with a few others and had taken a selfie. Ed stood far back to demonstrate the new…

“You can either live in our house or own a gun.” Our infant daughter was sleeping in her crib down the hall. My husband and I had taken up separate camps on either side of our living room when I lobbed this at him. The gun would have been for…

Prior to Covid-19, I mostly thought about strangers as warnings to my children. Around the time I first began teaching my daughter Izzy to not talk to strangers, we were standing in line at Panera. …

I love the Hemingway App. It forces me to make my sentences tighter and doesn't do it for me, so I learn as I go. And iPhone notes are critical. They're with me all of the time and easy to organize.