“So, how are you?” “Fine thanks. I’m so excited to be here.” “You, er, were great, er, with your fashion at the Olympics.” “Thank you so much! It was such a honor to be there.” “Oh, ok, nice meeting you!” This little conversation may seem completely benign. Essentially it is, […]

This week, Boston hosts the 2014 United States Figure Skating Championships. In an Olympic year, the event serves as the moment when the United States Figure Skating Federation selects representatives for the Olympic Games. The event is lovingly referred to as “Nationals.” The big events are obviously the competitions to […]

Miley Cyrus and her foam finger made “twerk” a commonly used phrase. Christina Aguilera lost a lot of weight, and Kim Kardashian was compared to Shamu. Bombs went off in Boston and Volgograd. A train derailed in Spain. A tsunami hit the Philippines. Gay rights were fought for and won […]

Some years ago, I was fascinated by a story that branched between the United States and Russia, the story of 10 spies leading relatively inconspicuous lives in New York and New Jersey who worked for the Russian government. Like much of the country, I was glued to any news I […]

We’ve all been there. We’ve all asked or seen someone ask a woman when she’s due, but she’s not actually pregnant.

As I stood at a New York City courthouse on a winter day in 2011, I knew I was making a good decision. I was marrying my then fiancé, now husband. It was two days before our actual ceremony, and we had trudged way downtown to collect our marriage license. […]

To read Part 1, click here.  My grandmother-in-law lies writhing in pain in her hospital bed. Far from being a meek woman, her dramatics are legendary in my married-into clan. From the way she’s screaming and carrying on, you’d think her pain was inflicted directly by God or Moses, and […]

It’s late 2006. The room is dark, aside from the awkward glare of European wattage streaming through the giant windows of my Moscow hotel suite. I hear the gentle attack of snowflakes trying to beat their way inside. My room, as per usual, is scented from an assortment of candles, […]

There I am, having happily finished a hard day’s work. I hop into my car for the 20-minute jaunt home, to start my night shift as husband, father, housewife, cleaning lady, chef, maid, and maniacal OCD slave. I turn on my favorite comedy special by one of my three favorite […]

Considering that my husband is the offspring of a Soviet immigrant family, and I am the offspring of a whole lot of Western European mutts, we are bound to have extreme differences in taste, attitudes, and interests. Despite the facts that both of us were raised in America and we’ve […]