Not knowing one end of a football field from the other — except when it comes to Auburn vs. Alabama — I don’t watch the Super Bowl. But the news-clip crawl across the top of my email account this morning made me click to read this: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/07/133560977/groupons-tibet-super-bowl-ad-harmless-fun-or-offensive?ft=1&f=1001 Last night I began reading a book I’ve […]

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This post inaugurates another will-be Cheapskate Intellectual feature: writing about food and cooking as an inherently life-enriching (and money-saving) force.  Some of y’all have already seen a version of this, but take advantage while the weather’s still cold! ____ Even as I sat in reverent silence, savoring my first bite of this bit of Provencal […]

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Every organizational system – for clothing, clutter, files, tasks, personal relationships – can be reduced to one rule: separate the living from the dead, and keep the dead in check.  Recognize the living: what the person you are right now values and needs to achieve her goals.  Pare down, organize, and store the relics that […]

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Lately, my life quickens and “leans to beginnings,” in Theodore Roethke’s words, at the Lunar (or Chinese) New Year rather than on the traditional Western date of January 1.  It’s more a time of beginnings, omens, and positive nudges than Jan 1, which tends (for me anyway) to get swallowed by holiday events and emotions, […]

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