D. A. Wolf
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D. A. Wolf is an independent consultant, freelance writer, and single mother of two sons, now in college. She is a former art reviewer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and her work has appeared in ARTnews, Raw Vision, France Magazine, ForbesWoman.com, and other publications. She holds a BA from Wellesley College, an MBA from the Wharton School, and has lived and worked up and down the East Coast and in Paris. These days, she reflects on life at her Daily Plate of Crazy, where she writes about women’s issues, relationships, divorce, parenting, popular culture, and anything else that strikes her on a given day as important, entertaining, or of interest.

Blog Entries by D. A. Wolf

What I Hope To Learn From Gay Marriage... About Divorce

(94) Comments | Posted May 10, 2012 | 8:24 PM

I'm a straight woman, and a divorced one at that. So what can I add to the conversation regarding gay marriage?

I would like to share my thoughts, my observations, my pragmatic idealism. I would like to speak of old friends, two women, who committed to each other as a...

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Will Separate Vacations Lead To Divorce?

(157) Comments | Posted March 12, 2012 | 3:09 AM

Some of us may never fully understand why our marriages come to an end. We revisit the circumstances, trying to learn from our mistakes, and taking a stab at processing the usual possible reasons for divorce: growing apart, infidelity, physical or emotional abuse, and other scenarios that are...

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Death Or Divorce: Which Is Worse?

(331) Comments | Posted January 16, 2012 | 1:04 PM

This column is based on an article which first appeared at Daily Plate of Crazy.

I have never been a widow. I can only imagine that it is horrible, otherworldly, incomprehensible.

My logic tells me that the arduous process of reconstructing a life after widowhood is heavily...

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Focused On The Wedding, Rather Than The Marriage

(24) Comments | Posted December 13, 2011 | 10:24 AM

A version of this column first appeared at Daily Plate of Crazy.

Like most women, I love a good wedding. It's a moment for celebration and sentimentality. Often, it's something of a spectacle. But if it's your wedding, it may also entail planning nightmares, significant debt, and battles...

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The Butterfly Effect: Making A Difference, One Life At A Time

(28) Comments | Posted November 23, 2011 | 12:32 PM

In the small town of Sanford, North Carolina, a community is watching one of their own, closely.

The fact is, without a kidney transplant, 31-year old Ashley Quiñones will die. Dialysis, which is a viable long-term option for many, isn't an option for her. Though her donor has been...

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Sticking It Out Through Infidelity: Courage Or Cowardice?

(532) Comments | Posted November 12, 2011 | 12:30 PM

Have you ever cheated? Been cheated on? Have you suffered some other devastating betrayal at the hand of the person you loved?

In a recent article, author Pamela Haag offers her perspective on the issue of staying with a spouse following infidelity. She comments on the range of...

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Do We Owe Our Spouses Sex?

(1891) Comments | Posted October 15, 2011 | 1:40 PM

Are we still swooning over the smooth-talking, ever elusive, charismatic catch? Mr. Perfect, Mr. Right, My One-And-Only?

Maybe so, but most of us fall for real men -- with thinning hair or a little paunch, with a broken tooth that's never been fixed, with a tendency to posture when...

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Post-Divorce Dating: Time or Timing?

(71) Comments | Posted October 12, 2011 | 1:37 PM

This post is based on a column which first appeared at Daily Plate of Crazy.

Some of us have been off the market for a while. The dating market, that is. And we're daunted at the thought of plunging back in -- or even sticking a baby toe...

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Could Marital Report Cards Prevent Divorce?

(58) Comments | Posted August 22, 2011 | 12:10 PM

Men and women. Our need for each other. Our obvious differences. Is there anything more fascinating? But when we marry and things go wrong, how many of us spend years struggling with the aftermath?

In the case of couples "growing apart" - if explicit issues could be identified and addressed...

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Divorce: The Natural Order of Things (For Men)

(831) Comments | Posted August 10, 2011 | 12:26 PM

Who doesn't remember the 1996 revenge fantasy, "First Wives Club," as Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton cook up an elaborate scheme to make their husbands pay for dumping them--for younger women?

I recall enjoying the movie, and at the time, I was married. Little did I know that...

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The One? I Prefer The Many

(110) Comments | Posted January 26, 2011 | 10:08 AM

Are you still looking for "the one" to set your heart on fire? The indispensable, all-powerful, absolutely-made-for-you soul mate?

Did you toss aside a perfectly loving human being, because something resembling a tiny blinker--or maybe even a fog horn--was telling or yelling that he or she was not "the one?"

...
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New Year, New You? Icebreakers Make Socializing Easier

(6) Comments | Posted December 30, 2010 | 4:55 PM

A new year is upon us! What better time to initiate positive change? To find a "new you" in some significant way?

I'm no longer one for resolutions with explicit goals, though they work well for some. I know my tendency to set overly ambitious objectives, then wither...

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Is Divorce Inevitable?

(24) Comments | Posted December 17, 2010 | 3:59 PM

We've had our share of celebrity scandals in the past year -- high profile splits that filled the tabloids, leaving us clucking our tongues and shaking our heads.

We were dumbstruck by the sheer number of Tiger's infidelities, and impressed by Sandra Bullock's class act. We dropped...

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Holiday Heartache: Shopping for the Ex

(20) Comments | Posted December 10, 2010 | 9:16 AM

Nothing is ever quite the same post-divorce, and certainly not this time of year. Especially when kids are involved.

Sure, we brace ourselves for irritation when it comes to holiday visitation; it can be aggravating, emotional, and costly. But most of us suck it up and do the best we...

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Rings and Things: Hand Them Down or Hand Them Off?

(43) Comments | Posted November 29, 2010 | 4:39 AM

By now we've all heard about Prince William's planned nuptials with long-time girlfriend, Kate Middleton, and that the heir to the British throne presented a stunning sapphire and diamond ring to his future wife - the very one his father gave his mother for their engagement in 1981.

...
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Considering Divorce? 10 Tips From the Trenches

(25) Comments | Posted November 19, 2010 | 1:23 PM

Are you edging toward divorce or smack in the middle of it? On the tail end, and hoping nothing falls through the cracks?

As the saying goes, "If I knew then what I know now..."

If you're considering a permanent split, take these tips from the trenches. They're from...

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Happily Ever After: Hollywood Divorce vs. Real Life Divorce

(9) Comments | Posted November 18, 2010 | 2:00 PM

It's a delightful romp. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated. But an affair with an ex-spouse? Not on my planet.

How about Divorce American Style? It's a sixties satire filled with connubial conflict, adventures in alimony, and eventually, reconciliation.

If you go for the classics, there's 1939's The...

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Post-Divorce Life: Are You Enough?

(22) Comments | Posted November 17, 2010 | 1:16 PM

"Are you enough?"

I'll never forget that line from Sex and the City. The fabulous four are discussing the importance of finding a man as Charlotte blurts out "Are you enough?" and does so with such insistence that she's quite endearing.

In fact, her conviction that life is incomplete without...

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Is Divorce a Career Killer?

(31) Comments | Posted November 12, 2010 | 10:48 AM

We can read about marriage, consider marriage, even cohabit. But in my book, we don't really know what marriage is like until we live it.

We can read about parenthood, consider parenthood, help with the children of friends and family. But we haven't an inkling what it's like until...

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