A Word for the Gifting Season

Amy Hungerford, 11.11.2009

Professor of English, Yale University

Pretension wrapped in a noun wrapped in a gerund: that's what gifting is. This holiday season, give the gift that keeps giving: something nice you picked yourself, for a particular person.

Girlfriends' Guide: Why I Won't Be Asking Santa For A Bodyguard This Christmas

Vicki Iovine, 10.30.2009

Author of the Girlfriends' Guides

Let's not get distracted by asking why in the world I would ever even think I might need personal protection -- my delusions are my own business.

Halloween? Bah, Humbug!

Michael DeJong, 10.29.2009

Environmentalist, artist and author

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy festive holidays as much as the next person, but we eco-freaks can't help ourselves from sucking the fun out of things, particularly when it comes to harming children.

Eek -- It's Halloween

Joe Peyronnin, 10.29.2009

NYU Journalism Professor

It is easy to go through several hundred New York dollars' worth of candy by the time the crowd tapers off on our street. We're looking forward to seeing Michael Jackson again and again.

The 10 Neatest New York Inventions Ever

Alex Santoso, 10.26.2009

Founder of Neatorama

New York, as my friends and family who live there like to say, is the center of the universe and the source of everything important in life. Like Christmas.

Los Angeles' Hunky Santa: Merry Christmas Ladies

Tamara Conniff, 10.22.2009

Entrepreneur, music expert and former chief editor of Billboard

I was called up on to choose this year's Hunky Santa - a coveted spot for a male specimen to become the holiday spokesman for Los Angeles shopping spo...

The Perfect Semitic Storm: Five Reasons Everybody Should Buy the New Christmas Albums by Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan And Barry Manilow This Season

David Wild, 10.14.2009

TV Writer, Rolling Stone Contributing Editor and author of "He Is . . . I Say"

Don't crucify me, but sometimes it takes a Jew to make truly great Christmas music. Irving Berlin wrote "White Christmas" poolside at the Arizona Biltmore.

Christmas in Bob Dylan's Heart

Paul Snyder, 10.13.2009

Editor at Lost Planet

To imagine Bob Dylan is out of touch with the symbolic value of making a Christmas album--as hilarious a sign as it is--is just underestimating him.

Michael Jackson's Last Laugh

Tom Gregory, 07.28.2009

Actor, radio personality, and Tony nominated producer

"I remember where I was, who I was with, and how I found out Michael Jackson died," will become part of the vernacular into the 22nd century.

On the First Day of Summer, My True Love Gave to Me

Robert J. Elisberg, 07.23.2009

Columnist and screenwriter

Have a holly, jolly summer.It's the best time of the year. Say goodbye to folks and fly as far away from here.

Passages

Neil McCarthy, 07.10.2009

Political Activist and Senior Partner at Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLP

We should celebrate New Years in June, not January. Things seem to more or less end in January.

How to Green Your Spiritual Life

Avital Binshtock, 07.07.2009

SIERRA magazine's lifestyle editor and editor of the Sierra Club's Green Life blog.

Most people who consider themselves at least somewhat spiritual, regardless of their religion or set of beliefs, have realized that caring for the earth is imperative to their spirituality.

Michael Jackson, The Neighborhood Association, and Me (VIDEO)

Tom Gregory, 06.26.2009

Actor, radio personality, and Tony nominated producer

When Jackson moved three doors away from me last December, I was thrilled. I still am. Still, the neighborhood has its rules.

Michael Jackson Springs into Summer with Santa (Video)

Tom Gregory, 06.25.2009

Actor, radio personality, and Tony nominated producer

The magnifying glass under which Michael Jackson has lived his entire life has exacted an obvious price. Still as we berate him we can't stop watching him -- no matter how often we think we've seen it all.

A Journey to Remember

Tamar Abrams, 03.05.2009

Tamar Abrams is a strategic communications consultant based in Arlington, VA.

My child's increasing self-reliance has given me the time to reflect on my parents' lives. I've always been grateful to have arrived at midlife with two vital parents who live nearby.

A Humbler Bonus

Viviana A. Zelizer, 03.03.2009

Llod Cotsen '50 Professor of Sociology at Princeton University

For too long, bonuses have been offered as extravagant entitlements, fattening not only bank accounts, but establishing and publicizing hierarchies of power and status.

Look Who's Following me... Yikes!

Julia Bovey, 03.01.2009

Someday, coal-fired electricity plants will likely be able to capture and store their global warming pollution, and that's something that NRDC encourages, as long as it's done well.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop. More Real Than Reviewers

Douglas MacKinnon, 02.28.2009

Former press secretary to Sen. Bob Dole

How dare we derive pleasure from a movie that elitist reviewers writing for a minute collection of fellow elitists have deemed prosaic, unimaginative, and beneath them.

Midwinter Options: When You Can't Find Peace Without, Choose Peace Within

Jason Mannino, 02.09.2009

Career Coach, Life Coach, Speaker/Trainer, Founder: The People Agenda

I ran into a friend at the gym last week. Originally from Switzerland, he has been living in Los Angeles for 20 years. Ten years ago he and his partne...

It's January -- Where Do the Cards Go?

Marcia DeSanctis, 02.05.2009

Writer and journalist

There will be no trace of Christmas in my house. The sugar cookies rattling around the tin? Gone. The leftover eggnog? Down the drain. Gingerbread houses? See ya. Except for the cards. They stick around.

The Rockettes Revisited

Elizabeth Benedict, 01.31.2009

Elizabeth Benedict, is the editor of Mentors, Muses & Monsters, a new anthology

Before I knew from high, low and middle brow, there was Radio City Music Hall. Before bling, bra-burning, post-modernism, and even before men who wal...