Life, Refracted

"Le Cri" by Auguste Rodin, Musee Rodin, Paris This morning my husband and I had one of our rare fights.  He asked me if I had seen anything interesting during my online skim of The New York Times  morning  headlines. I began to describe my reaction to an Op-Ed piece written by Alexa O’Brien about Amazon’s use of the helper technology that shares her name, a reference to the Greek goddess who defends and protects.  I was explaining what [...]

A Swedish proverb promises: “Shared joy is double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”  Experiences of sharing — anything from a troubling dream to an ice cream cone — can show “I Love You” across cultures, gender, age.  A two-year old will reach out her hand to offer a turn at a toy to someone she trusts and wants to see smile; a romantic relationship takes a step forward when one person offers a sip from his or her drink to the other [...]