Keeping Sane about Ukraine 

by

A close friend told me about the Russia-Ukraine war: “now I ran out of being afraid, I don’t have any resources left to be constantly terrified”. Watching the news for the last two weeks was torture. And this is for the lucky ones who don’t have their houses shelled, children wounded, family fighting. So we started doomscrolling, obsessively checking feeds, starting and ending the days with war news. And the more we scrolled, the more we felt doom and gloom, as media sells fear, …

Read more

What Can We Learn from Sun Tzu on the Art of War

by

One of the better discoveries of the last few months was Jonathan Clements’ books. From Wu: The Chinese Empress who schemed, seduced and murdered her way to become a living God to Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy, from An Armchair Traveller’s History of Finland to A Brief History of the Vikings: The Last Pagans or the First Modern Europeans? these books are tremendous efforts of introducing slices of history to laypeople. And the language is often witty:  The Russians were not particularly impressed with Finland. Since they already had trees, lakes and snow of …

Read more

Reliable Information Sources about the Russia-Ukraine War

by

Drive for about fours hours from my Romanian hometown, and you are in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Drive for about three hours, and you are in Chisinau, Moldova (another country I fear might be attacked). I never witnessed such grief beyond belief so close to my birthplace. And so, hypocritically, I admit, I am horrified by this war and its unmeasurable loss of human life, although there were and still are gruesome conflicts spread all across this messed up world. For the last few days, I …

Read more

First Night of War

by

Darfur. Iraq. Iran. Yemen. Georgia. Nigeria. Lybia. Syria. And the list goes on and on for wars that began from merely 2003 onwards.  But to see tanks and fights and bombs in the heart of Europe?   William Faulkner said it best in Requiem for a Nun: The past is never dead. In fact, it’s not even past. And this resonates profoundly with a quote from Svetlana Aleksievich’s book The Unwomanly Face of War that described how a Soviet woman soldier during WWII felt decades after the war: what …

Read more

Lillian Gilbreth: When Emancipation Starts In the Kitchen

by

I hate housework. You make the beds, you wash the dishes, and six months later, you have to start all over again. Joan Rivers  Wiping, hoovering, polishing, dusting, washing, scrubbing. Shopping, prepping, cooking, cleaning. Repainting, redecorating, decluttering, repairing. Housekeeping is not like other types of work: we can’t put it on our CV, we get no recognition for not letting things fall apart, and it’s a Sisyphean work, as it must be done over and over again.  And yet, our generation has access to some …

Read more

What I Wish I Knew Before Having My Child

by

While creating the outline for an article about preventing parenting burnout, I kept thinking about what I wanted to know before I had a child. So, I asked my husband and some of my friends what they wish they knew before their first newborn. In random order, and under the guise of anonymity, here are some ideas:  Breastfeeding  One of the biggest myths about breastfeeding is that it is easy, billions of mothers have done it before us, and it only takes a bit of …

Read more

How Ideas Cross-Pollinate to Advance Diverse Disciplines

by

I always advise my people to read outside your field, every day something. And most people say, ‘Well, I don’t have time to read outside my field.’ I say, ‘No, you do have time, it’s far more important.’ Your world becomes a bigger world, and maybe there’s a moment in which you make connections. Nobel prize winner Oliver Smithies in dialogue with writer David Epstein in Epstein’s book Range  One of the things that surprised me as a parent was how much I benefited from …

Read more

Talking about Relationships with Our Children

by

While reading Between: A guide for parents of eight to thirteen-year-olds  (a great read full of practical advice), I came across a crucial topic that caregivers need to discuss with their children. What should our children look for in a positive relationship, and what red flags they must check? Positive signs for a healthy relationship  Both people trust, respect and support each other.   Both people enjoy spending time together and having fun. There is honest and open communication between both people.  Being with that partner brings …

Read more