When life makes you feel like a lemon, squash yourself and hope for the best — My word for the year was expression, and express myself I did. Unfortunately, to express doesn’t just mean share your opinion; it can also mean take the juice out of a fruit. And today, I do feel like a squeezed-out lemon, all rind, dried-up pulp and barely any juice left…

How to save the world by not doing a thing — It was an evening spent dining with friends, before the pandemic. “There should be a prize for choosing not to harm,” I said. “You know these moments? When you’re arguing and you know exactly the thing to say that’d hurt your opponent the most. …

Disowning a parent or a child A parent or a child is entitled to apply for disowning by mutual consent. […] A parent or a child is entitled to apply unilaterally for disowning where facts establishing a severe and renewed breach of parental duties are committed by any of the…

“Hate and Murder and Madness Incarnate She Stood” — The Mademoiselle from Bad Boys’ Street In the early 1830s, the Felix moved in Bad Boys’ street (rue des Mauvais-garçons) in Paris, hoping to settle down for good. Their five children had been born in various places in Germany or Switzerland, each birth marking a stop in their lives as wandering Jews. Elisabeth-Rachel, the girl who’d…

A tale of two stories, but not the ones you think — Tomorrow will see the premiere of “And Just Like That”, the sequel to Sex and the City. The original TV show, based on Candace Bushnell’s book published in 1997, changed the image of single women and is now commonly described as a “juggernaut”. If it features women, is about women…

Or, writing a love scene with unruly characters and (no) flair — I am speaking with my agent over the phone. She is a cheerful, enthusiastic young woman. She does not know that I am going to let her down. I know I am going to let her down. I hate having to let her down. “I am so excited that you…

An essay by Adrienne Rich — I discovered Adrienne Rich in my final year of college, at 21. She was on the curriculum of a modern poetry class. As I went through the Norton critical edition of her poetry and prose, I fell for her poetry. Her first works were written in careful meter, while she…

Quiet children dream of wide-berth ships Taking them to the end of the world Where time flies away Quiet children dream their way out. Their future life will only contain sunlight and new horizons. Quiet children lower their heads, ready to face storms, dragons, volcanoes. They won’t be afraid: they face these…