With the tectonic shifts in our economy, and parallels growing daily relating the Obama-present with the Great Depression, here is a Christmas story. Like most people, the holidays make me feel connected to the past; a time of reflection when moments of insight open up like glowing windows on an...

In our era of celebrity, where every life is made public through email, blogs and Facebook, one of the greatest oddities may be that there is not a livelier discussion about the individual's basic need for a more private space.

This is a question I have pondered while on...

"Who's going to play you in the movie?" From hidden in a teenage diary with a key, 92-year-old Florence was revealed in a book. She arrived in New York City last week from her winter home in Pompano Beach, Florida to kick off The Red Leather Diary book tour. We...

Paging through the red leather diary for the first time gave me goosebumps. Little flakes of red leather from the diary's worn cover sprinkled onto my white bedspread. Every page and entry was magical. I couldn't help but thinking, how did it find its way to me, and why?

Three years ago, late for work at The New York Times, I stepped out of my Upper West Side apartment building to encounter a dumpster filled with old steamer trunks plastered with vintage travel labels. Unhesitatingly, I climbed up and into what felt like my own movie.

Among the...