My grandmother was an iron-willed woman, the feared matriarch of our New York family back in the 1950s.
When I was five years old, she invited some friends and relatives to her Bronx apartment for a party

     
　　The trend in everyday conversation is to use grandiose words. "Outstanding" is new "good," "amazing" is the new "OK," and "huge" is the new "big."

     
　　Speaking in public is most people s least favorite thing. The reason is that we re all afraid of making fools of ourselves. The more important the speech, the more frightened we become.
But stop biting yo

      　Those Childhood Days
When you came into the world, she held you in her arms.
You thanked her by weeping your eyes out.
When you were 1 year old, she fed you and bathed you.
You tha

     
　　In a class I teach for adults, I recently did the “unpardonable1.” I gave the class homework! The assignment was to “go to someone you love within the next week and tell them you love them. It has to be someone yo

     
　　There was once a lonely girl who longed so much for love. One day while she was walking in the woods she found two starving songbirds. She took them home and put them in a small cage. She cared them with love and

      　I heard this story when I was in Vietnam, and it was told to me as fact. I have no way of knowing for sure that it is true, but I do know that stranger things have happened in war.
Whatever their planned targe

      　　My grandmother was an iron-willed woman, the feared matriarch of our New York family back in the 1950s.
When I was five years old, she invited some friends and relatives to her Bronx apartment for a party. Am

      　　At one point during the party, I made my way to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. A minute or two later, the little girl opened the bathroom door and grandly walked in. I was still sitting down.

      　　Twenty minutes later, all that changed. Grandmother walked by the bathroom and noticed a torrent of water streaming out from under the door.
She shrieked twice—first in astonishment, then in rage. She flung o

      　　Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’tact in the romantic ways that I re

      　　Many say their most painful moments are saying good-bye to those they love. After watching Cheryl, my daughter-in-law, through the six long months her mother suffered towards death, I think the most painful moments ca