Public Ponder

The Cycle of Shame and Self-Blame in Parenting

At some point, if you're the parent of a teenager, you'll feel like you can do NOTHING right. Such is the case even when, unlike my son, the teenager does not have autism and an intellectual disability....Read More →

The Day My Mom Stepped on a Yorkie Puppy

It all started the day my mom stepped on Luca, mortally wounding him: our family’s gradual shift from dog neutral to dog enthusiasts. My sister Gabi, 23 at the time, commented to her colleagues at the...Read More →

Are you Crazy About Dogs? Please, Don’t Judge

Since I moved to Fairfield County, CT twenty years ago, I’ve learned that a dog’s place in human society can be very different from the place occupied by the average dog of my Venezuelan childhood. This...Read More →

How to Say No and Never Sound Ungrateful or Rude

It’s hard to say no. You may appear ungrateful, rude, impolite, insubordinate -all kinds of negative impressions. Some people -my father for example- are especially rude when declining. I’ll ask him if...Read More →

Will You Watch Mulan with Me for the Hundredth Time?

Diego eats sushi for lunch on Fridays. It took just two straight Fridays of sushi lunch for it to become the official Friday lunch. Whenever an event happens with any regularity in his life, Diego will...Read More →

Jesus’s Greatest Legacy: The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount, delivered by Jesus of Nazareth, is one of my favorite speeches by anyone alive or dead. Of course, born 2,021 years ago, the Christian Jesus lives, even if the historical one ...Read More →

What Makes a Person Unique?

If you’re a parent, a teacher has probably reported at some point: “Henry wasn’t himself today,” or “Something wasn’t right with Julie. She just wasn’t herself.” What does that even mean? You may feel...Read More →

Confronting the Death and Misery of War

“I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed… It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets,...Read More →

Beware of the Fear Tactic

“The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live, and fear breeds repression. Too often sinister threats to the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind, are concealed under the patriotic...Read More →

I’m Thankful My Depression Responds to Medication

It all started in my late teenage years, around 1988. I’d had my adolescent ups and downs, exacerbated by the fact that I had scoliosis and wore a hideous back brace all through high school. But I truly...Read More →