All that I wrote for The Zesty Digest

Today, I gave the editorial staff at The Zesty Digest my notice. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'm no longer their target demographic (if I ever was). Beyond that, we had a couple of creative differences that really boiled down to my desire to write about stuff that moved me and that would inform the audience about something other than fashion, style, etc. But it was a good 10 months anyway! I still think Sweet Lemon Magazine is a great publication, and I'm so impressed by what the young women who run it are able to create together.

My past posts for the blog are below...

Happy Birthday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!

In honor of Women's History Month, a shoutout for Justice RBG . (March 19, 2013)

After earning her law degree from Columbia University in 1959, graduating at the top of her class, Ginsburg didn't receive a single job offer. (Sandra Day O'Connor, who eventually became the first female justice on the Supreme Court, experienced the same prejudice on the west coast when she graduated from Stanford in 1960.) Continue reading...

Audrey in the 1960s

A glimpse of Audrey Hepburn in three of her best 1960s films! (March 4, 2013)

Audrey Hepburn is recognized the world over for her swan-like neck, delicate nose, and big, beguiling eyes. She is one of the most popular style icons in history. But sometimes I think her face and figure have managed to outshine something very important. Over the course of her career, Audrey earned an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a Tony, a Grammy, and three BAFTA awards. She was an incredible actress. Continue reading...

Call of Conscience: Violence Against Women

One in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime . (February 27, 2013)

Our front door was open. Mom stood in the doorway looking out. The blue phone cord's spirals stretched flat from the kitchen wall to the receiver in her hand. We lived in a townhome complex in California. Five homes to a unit, each one facing the parking lot. It might have rained overnight; the smell of wet blacktop wafted into the house on a chilly morning breeze. Mom was running late for work, but she stood frozen at the door, silent. I started to ask what was wrong, then I heard the screams, too. Continue reading...

A Grapefruit a Day

The many perks of this superfruit may contribute greatly to your overall health! (February 19, 2013)

Forget apples, there's another superfruit which may help keep the doctor away. Discovered in Barbados during the 18th century, the grapefruit has long been an exotic and sour addition to breakfast tables around the world. After a recent tweet about my breakfast of grapefruit sprinkled with sugar, a Norwegian friend of mine replied, "I think the coated-in-sugar part must be an American phenomenon." Entirely possible. Braver countrymen than mine apparently eat grapefruit straight. Whether you agree with them or with me about the method, there are lots of good reasons to eat a grapefruit a day. Continue reading...

Recently I purchased a yoga mat. It's turquoise. That's really all I know, because it's still shrink wrapped. Sometimes I walk by the corner where I leaned it the day I brought it home, and I think to myself, Gosh, I really ought to bust out that bad boy and do some yoga. But I refuse to succumb to that temptation. I avert my eyes. I find something else to do. Not to brag, but my non-yoga discipline is actually rather impressive. Continue reading...

Dear Mr. President

"Make me want to come home." (January 21, 2013)

Last week, I participated in NPR's postcards to the president pre-inaugural activity; in a single word or phrase, I was supposed to let President Obama know what I hoped his priority would be in his second term. I took the opportunity to speak as an expat (short for expatriate). Make me want to come home. My photo ended up getting some fun exposure. Apparently my hand-written message, requisite to the exercise, resonated with someone. (Or else, they just liked my lipstick!) Continue reading...

The Legacy & Reality of Beauty: A Model Talks

Some sound reminders in Victoria's Secret model Cameron Russell's recent TED Talk. (January 15, 2013)

In the photo, her white hip is thrust forward. Her back is arched. She wears the black strapless bikini effortlessly. Her long hair falls forward across one shoulder like a glossy curtain. The light plays on her face the way it would on water. Her eyes receive the camera, the photographer, the viewer. Her full lips are themselves an invitation. Sex. Beauty. Youth. For sale. "This picture is the very first picture that I ever took. It's also the very first time that I'd ever worn a bikini." Continue reading...

Actually, 2012 was "the best year ever." (January 2, 2013)

Want some good news? Me too. And I've got some for you. But first, let me tell you a story. In 2000, I got into my first car accident. I was 17 years old, driving home from my church's youth group, and happened to be following the truck driven by the boy I had a major crush on. He pulled up to a stop sign; I stopped behind him, a little too close to his bumper. I'd only been driving for a few months, but already I'd mastered the art of flirting via rear-view mirror. Continue reading...

Major Air Traveler Pet Peeves

A travel rant . (December 18, 2012)

In the Calgary International Airport, I once received a pat-down search that included someone swabbing the zippered fly of my jeans with a Q-tip. The short, stocky security agent stole third so fast, I didn't have time to think, let alone to say, Hey lady, couldn't we leave some mystery in our relationship? I was annoyed by the incident, but in the interest of national security, I gritted my teeth and got over it. Continue reading...

Sweet Lemon Travel-Savvy Tips I

The Carry-On. (December 10, 2012)

'Tis the season of holiday travel. For all those Zesty Digest readers preparing to head home for the holidays, I thought I'd put together my list of carry-on baggage tips. Most airlines allow travelers one carry-on bag (must not exceed 14 inches x 9 inches x 22 inches), and one personal bag. But what do you haul aboard? What do you leave behind? What do you check instead? And why? Continue reading...

Homecoming

Inspired by Veteran's Day and my own trip home . (November 20, 2012)

In late 1942, a ship approached the blue-green mouth of the San Francisco Bay. The passengers had embarked from Australia a few short weeks before, and many stood on deck in spite of the cold wind. Among the crowd were a handful of Army nurses bound for Letterman Hospital on the Presidio. The hemlines of their brown skirts flapped around their knees, and the women held onto one another as the fog rolled back to reveal one of America's most beautiful landmarks: the Golden Gate Bridge. Continue reading...

Goon Squads & Best Books

My pick for best book of 2012. (November 5, 2012)

One of the most major controversies in the literary world this year surrounded the Pulitzer committee's decision not to choose a winner of the 2012 Fiction Award. The jury declined to choose between Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by the late David Foster Wallace. Why? Continue reading...

October Apple Pie

The best apple pie recipe you'll ever find. (October 22, 2012)

This is not a scenario you're likely to experience in the states, but I got to introduce four gentlemen from Norway, Romania, and Poland to this All-American treat. That's a lot of responsibility for a California girl who grew up using every excuse in the book to avoid learning to cook or bake. Thankfully, when it comes to pie, I know what I'm doing, because a couple of years ago, I came across this recipe for October Apple Pie. Continue reading...

Halloween Costumes

A Walk down Memory Lane + A Few Ideas (October 15, 2012)

First we are dressed by our mothers as pumpkins and ghosts. We are carried from door to door, and set down after the bell is rung to toddle forward cutely with a plastic jack-o-lantern. When we say "Trick or treat!" for the first time, we drool heavily, and it comes out sounding more like "Dwick-er-eeeee!" We are applauded for this. Our parents eat the candy because, well, we don't have all our teeth yet. Continue reading...

A Classic Film for Banned Books Week

The Male Animal (1942), still relevant. (October 3, 2012)

Midwestern University is in an uproar. It's the weekend of the Big Game; students and alumni are preparing for a bonfire rally. At the same time, political tensions are high among the university faculty, as three of their own have been recently fired for their alleged Communist sympathies. In the meantime, English Professor Tommy Turner (Henry Fonda) and his wife, Ellen (Olivia de Havilland) are celebrating: it's her birthday, and he's on the verge of a full professorship at his alma mater. Enter Ellen's old flame, football legend "Whirling Joe" Ferguson, and allow hilarity to ensue. Continue reading...

Sweet Lemon's 6th Issue: It's all about beginnings.

An overview of the latest issue of Sweet Lemon Magazine (September 25, 2012)

This is a message heard far more often in the spring, but Editor-in-Chief Carly Heitlinger casts this old preconception in a new light, and helps get every co-ed's autumn off on the right, well-booted foot by encouraging a New Year's philosophy in the fall: a clean slate and school-year resolutions. In Back to School, you'll find examples of SMART (that is: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) goals to make the semester less stressful and more personally productive. Like a brisk wind whisking red and gold leaves down the path before you, this forward-looking, big-picture, can-do attitude sweeps through the entire issue. Continue reading...

Suitable to the Time

A contemplation of passing time and changing dreams (September 18, 2012)

The crochet hook flashes silver between the loops of turquoise yarn in my hands. It's taking shape now, growing in a slow outward-spiral. A cap for the coming winter. I've made dozens of these, but this one is different. Special. Smaller. It's a gift for the bun in a friend's oven. Greta's baby shower is on Saturday, and I've procrastinated in deciding on a gift, mostly because I haven't been in the mood to think about babies. Continue reading...

Tips for the Thrifty Traveler

Wanderlusting? Tough on a budget, not impossible. (September 14, 2012)

Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor." Metaphorically, he is urging us to take risks at work, in our art, and even in love. But Twain's encouragement is also literal; he wants us to leave home and see the world. This is a common desire, and we feed it daily via technology; Pinterest lets us window shop for foreign landscapes and travel blogs let us hear about adventures in the words of ordinary people. But when you're trying to finish school and/or jump-start a career, it's easy to get caught behind your desk with nothing but daydreams to show for it. Continue reading...

The Price of Pink

A Girl-Sized Problem (September 9, 2012)

Under Lock & Key

Why Keeping a Diary is Important (September 6, 2012)

My first diary came when I was nine years old. It was a small, white hardcover book. Pink and red flowers graced the cover, and, best of all, it had a little gold clasp that could be secured with a tiny key. It was a Christmas present from a favorite aunt, and I was so eager to begin filling the pages with important, insightful ink that I began writing entries on the inside cover (since the first page was dated January 1, and I didn't want to wait!). The diary marked the first time I had a place to record everything I observed in the world around me. Continue reading...

Notes From A Patriotic Expatriate