Who’s in charge around here?
I’m a former daily newspaper journalist who worked in the Pacific Northwest and New England. Now a book reviewer, writer, editor, iMac user. I founded Rich Litho Media, which provides writing/editing and publishing services for authors and small businesses.
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Email me at kimberly@typelikethewind.com
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Category Archives: Human nature
All the news that fits. And solves.
I’ve only read some of the stories and ads in three sections in Sunday’s New York Times (Book Review, Business and Week in Review) and here’s what I’ve already learned: Most new fiction is deeply flawed. A five-line letter from Ronald Reagan to his old actress friend Kitty Carlisle Hart is worth $6,100. Whales and [...]
Also posted in Advertising, Animals, Authors, Business, Economy, Ethics, Gender Mysteries, Government, Health, Politics, Publishing, Research, Science, The Press Leave a comment
A tale of motherly love. Co-starring a turtle.
Mother’s Day is coming. I know this because every retailer in sight is trying to cash in. My gym has a Workout With Mom! special. My email is full of mail-order offers for chocolates, flowers, perfume. The spa down the street is even giving discounts on eyebrow and lip waxes in preparation for the holiday, [...]
Also posted in Animals, Heroes 2 Comments
A snapshot of us.
Sometimes an hour with the newspaper is all I need to see the immense contradictions and ironies of this country. These New York Times pieces are a case in point. A story by Katie Zernike ponders polling of resentful Tea Party supporters. I am ashamed of these fellow citizens; their racism, their short-sighted, self-serving demands [...]
Why computer chips will not replace the human brain just yet.
Conscious thoughts upon dropping a hot microwave pizza on the floor, pepperoni side down: Shit I’m starving that thing cost almost six bucks I should have said no when I saw the price ring up but the grocery cashier was already close to tears because the woman ahead of me had $40 in food stamps [...]
Also posted in Food, Tech Leave a comment
Gimme five so I can blog faster
Human touch is a powerful language, says a study written about by Ben Carey of The New York Times. The story says a range of emotions can be shown, or triggered, by the most casual interactions, such as a slap on the back or a high-five. Touch makes people feel better and even excel at [...]
Admiring a master
I found myself at the nearby enormous Fred Meyer store on Christmas Eve morning, something I would normally avoid like a hot-tub full of Republicans. But my watch battery died and that night’s cake recipe called for chocolate chips…and Freddy’s is the place where one can find both necessities. In fact, this particular store is [...]
Also posted in Real People, Shopping & Necessities Leave a comment
What we know still hurts us
The question of when a woman should begin annual mammograms is getting a lot of ink, air-time and, yes, close scrutiny in Congress, not a gang I reflexively list under the heading, “People I trust with my personal health-care decisions.” (I’m trying not to veer into paranoia here, so I won’t dwell on my impression [...]
Also posted in Alcohol & Drugs, Gender Mysteries, Health, Research Leave a comment
That noise? Oh, it’s my knee.
Even in this youth-obsessed culture of ours, there are a lot of things about aging that are kept very, very quiet. You’d think any such bad tidings would be waved at us like so many flags, just as a way to further nationalize us into the high-fiber, deep-breathing, sun-avoidant, heart-rate-monitored, liposuctioned, mood-enhanced, hair-colored landscape of [...]
Also posted in Health Leave a comment
Partner = Best + Friend
You know those “sponsored” links that show up on the bottom of some news sites? This morning some clever algorithmic gnome decided I should read this blog called The Frisky: Love. Lives. Stars. Style.” The link took me to “Girl Talk: Should Your Boyfriend Be Your Best Friend?” — a headline I couldn’t resist, for [...]
Also posted in Gender Mysteries Leave a comment
God is in the details…and the DNA
We humans hunt, gather, mate…and we instinctively reach out for something bigger than ourselves. We’ve evolved over zillions of years and all these behaviors seem to be wired into us, according to a tantalizingly short New York Times article, “The Evolution of the God Gene.” Archaeologists in Mexico are the source for this provocative view. [...]
Also posted in Ethics, Research, Science Leave a comment
The Children’s Hour
New research on how parental approval affects a child over time grabbed my attention. I’ve always believed that whatever self-confidence and related successes I enjoy come out of the nearly blind admiration I received from the adults in my family. This boosterish view of me was oddly juxtaposed with other aspects of our lives together. [...]
Also posted in Research Leave a comment
A Labor Day reflection: Sherrie, Chuck and me
The summer I was 16 I rebelled at working for my mother’s small newspaper. I was determined to be independent. Which I was, just as soon as she got through twisting a local factory owner’s arm to give me a job in return for a break on the company’s overdue advertising bill. So I found [...]
Also posted in Gender Mysteries Leave a comment
The H word
I am, and always have been, deeply suspicious of people who aspire to be “happy.” This, to my mind, is like aspiring to be tall. If there’s an appropriate time in life for either goal, it ends at about age 15. An even better analogy is that happiness, like weather, almost always occurs for understandable [...]
Posted in Human nature Leave a comment
Let us bow our heads
It’s true: Hospitals and casinos are remarkably similar. Years of family visits to Reno and Lake Tahoe have acquainted me with every casino restaurant for miles. That’s where you go to eat with a large group. Ditto for hotel accommodations. Even if you don’t gamble, there’s no avoiding gaming culture. Last week I hung out [...]
Also posted in Faith, Health Leave a comment
You can’t make this stuff up
Ah, Oregon. We used to be known as the state Where It Rains All the Time, Where Tonya Harding Was Born and Where One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Was Filmed. Now Oregon is going to be known as the state Where Rabbits Get Room Service. A local woman is making news because she’s been [...]
The (under) Wire
I took a wrong turn at the mall yesterday and instead of the Apple Store, I found myself in the Semi-Annual Sale at Victoria’s Secret. Wow. The place is an estrogen tsunami: dozens of women swarming over sale bins, yanking out pink, purple, black, brown, green and ivory bras and waving them like flags. (God [...]
Also posted in Shopping & Necessities 3 Comments
Uh oh, the rich are bailing on mortgages too.