Face Time

I was at an airport not long ago when a TSA agent did a double take while checking my ID. I’m used to this. I’ve always been blessed with youthful looks, and typically people meeting me don’t believe I’m actually nearing a half-century of years on Earth. Occasionally I’m still carded in bars. That feels […]

Hug It Out

There are hugs, and then there are hugs. Am I right? Hugging is not one-size-fits-all. It’s a skill, partly innate, and not everyone has it. We all know people who are huggers, and people who just aren’t. There are also people who like to be hugged and people who curl away as a hugger approaches, even flinching a little […]

The Last Word

  August 31—September 4 Here at LWON it has been a week of fond farewells—to a season, to a beloved scientist—and of gratitude toward Nature for carrying us forward. Guest poster Judith Lewis Mernit forgives the harvester ant for the agonizing pain of its bite, coming to appreciate its own fight for survival. With all their […]

Prescription for Tragedy

  Not long ago my father, who is 84, had a great fall. Great meaning bad. He doesn’t remember tripping on anything, just that suddenly he was on the floor of his bathroom. He’d hit his head on the corner of the sink. There was a lot of blood. A long hospital stay followed after surgery to […]

Redux: Galápagos Monday: When Conservation Means Killing

Well, folks, it’s the last day of REDUX WEEK here at LWON, and with all the hubbub of late over the death of Cecil the Lion, I thought it was appropriate to revisit a piece on a related topic: Killing animals for conservation (in this case, because they’re invasive). I’ve chosen an essay by Virginia […]

The Cold Truth

A little while back I needed a gift for a friend, and I came across some pretty hand-knit gloves at a craft fair that I knew she’d like. They were fingerless but still quite warm and they’d go nicely with the wooly shawl I’d gotten her the year before. Never mind that it was the middle of […]

I Wish I Could Have One

If you’ve trolled the Internet any time in the last decade, you know that animals and their silly antics are very happening. And no wonder. For the most part the creatures we interact with are adorable and waggish, even if they can be annoying, childish, and smelly. Hell, they sound like husbands. What’s not to love? Those precious looks and […]

Snark Week: Sand, Sea, and Family-Oriented Flesh-Ripping Aliens

Some years back, in search of sunshine and sand, my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I packed up the Bronco II and headed down to the Florida Keys (we love punishingly long and mind-numbing drives). We’d brought camping gear because we hadn’t booked anywhere to stay and, more important, we were dirt poor. The fee to […]