In her latest novel, A Mercy, Toni Morrison answers longing with self-possession.  Florens, a slave all her life, is dangerously in love with a blacksmith — a never-enslaved African from Benin who has come to her owner’s homestead to build a magnificent gate. They sleep together, but he refuses to love her in return. Why?…

Growing up, acting was the only activity that sustained my existence.  Mother recounts that at ten I told her rehearsals were the only events I looked forward to in life.  Even as a kid, I remember feeling that performing was one of the few times I felt truly alive, powerful and free, when I felt like…

Two of my friends have Seasonal Affective Disorder. One has been diagnosed by a doctor and sits next to harshly bright lamp for twenty minutes every morning before getting on the subway to go to work, which, in my mind, promptly cancels any benefit derived from the lamp. My second pal has, after several winters…

Wonderful news!  Gov. Paterson has passed the statewide plastic bag recycling bill with an amendment which leaves New York City’s more progressive law in effect. As City Council Speaker Christine Quinn states: “This is a truly great win for our City.  A statewide program – while clearly a step in the right direction for our…

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