Recently I was watching T.V., checking email, and doing some online research for a client while chatting with my husband. Yes, I accomplish that level of multi-tasking all the time. Suddenly, I hear: "...US Airways flight 1549, downed by a bird strike. Birds strike planes over 7,000 times per year."...

This article was originally published on Edutopia.

At the highest performing urban school in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, the mantra when it comes to education is "children always come first." And it isn't easy.

Like most public charter schools, the Paul Cuffee...

Almost twenty years ago, in February of 1993, my daughter was a toddler and sometimes hard to keep track of in stores if I took my eyes off her for a second, as all parents occasionally do. Around that time I lost her in Gymboree at the mall for perhaps...

My goodness, we've been busy here at the North Pole! The elves have worked their tiny elf-fingers to the bone making toys for all the good little girls and boys, and there sure are a lot of them, 'cause I've been checking my list.

What a magical time of year...

I am in a shame spiral.

I can't get out of it with my signature pomegranate martinis. I can't get out of it by seeking support on Facebook from people who know that I'm not a bad person. No amount of reading of blogs by other people who have...

Today I reached a turning point in my life, and came to a place people think I've always been. To be able to explain where I am, I will have to confess to the reasons for my late arrival. We'll get to that.

I will be 50 next year, and...

This article has been co-written with Michele Sinisgalli-Yulo of Princess Free Zone.

In honor of this being the First Annual National Princess Week, we've got a few things to say!

So much has been written about Disney,...

Dear Mr. Fishing Store Clerk,

I know you were just trying to be helpful. You saw me and my two X chromosomes walk into your shop on this beautiful day, you heard me say I was looking for a fishing rod and you dutifully ushered me to the new section...

"Yeah, when the cows come home I'll get that call." That's what I muttered to myself when a well-known but not-to-be-named Internet service provider's customer service rep promised to have a "supervisor" call me after the tier one person and the tier two person could not resolve my email failure...

For weeks, I have been battered by my television and my computer. You all know what I'm talking about. I don't feel like regurgitating everything others have beautifully written or pasting in hyperlinks to articles about the hundreds of nefarious assaults on women going down in this country. You all...

Is it just me, or does the continued hyper-focus on technology in the classroom leave anyone else just a little bit cold? While it has long been said that academic institutions change more slowly than any others, and for good reason, this is perhaps no longer the case. When I...

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the way rudeness is being passed off as adult A.D.D. these days? I'll be in a conversation with someone, and suddenly they will comment on something out the window, something on their iPhone, or something flashing across a flat-screen TV on...

Yesterday I sold my home, the home I tended for almost 20 years, the home I painted with my own hands, the home I raised my only child in, lost my first husband in and where I finally started a new life with a new husband. Five years ago, my...

The memory is still fresh: I take my daughter to her pediatrician for her 18-month-old checkup and he asks me, "Any hitting, kicking or biting?" Just like that! I thought, This man is a genius! A mind reader! How did he know I was about to bring that up? What...

Nameless and Soulless in Paradise

When my daughter Charlotte went off to college, suddenly and abruptly petless, it did not take long before she determined the rule about pets in dorms: fish only. On impulse, and accompanied by a new friend who had a tank of goldfish in...

I know this may come off a tad polarizing, but I think liberal comedians are funny as hell and they have no equals on the other side of the aisle. I stand a greater chance of seeing Russia from my house than spotting a genuinely funny conservative comedian anywhere in...

I recently wrote this comment on a friend's status update on Facebook about yet another female-objectifying advertising campaign:

We have SO MANY BLOGGERS all rendering opinions on this that I feel I can't cut through the noise and get at the essence of the problem. The other day I...

I have never been so excited about writing a blog post as I am right now. You know that feeling you have when you find out that something incredibly bizarre and horribly annoying that you've noticed and discussed with people for years is not in your head, and actually has...

This piece is part of a special series on the End of Gender. This series includes bloggers from Role/Reboot, Good Men Project, The Huffington Post, Salon, HyperVocal, Ms. Magazine, YourTango, Psychology Today,

Welcome to the new school year! In millions of households across the country, there is no greater drama than the nightly struggle to get kids to do their homework. How many parents would love to have a magic wand that could abolish the homework wars forever? There actually is such...