For articles covering choices, tips and experiences on diverse topics to enrich our lives.
By Shana Liebman– Tarrytown’s majestic castle, now called Spa at the Castle, which closed during the pandemic, has just reopened and is off to a promising start. In May 2023, the Castle was acquired by management company Hay Creek Hotels and Restaurants, which... More »
LET’S TESSELLATE: Your writing (or your life) is just a lump of clay, so shape it By Krista Madsen– For a person who has the tendency to skew living 75% in my brain and 25% in my body, I’m surprisingly very visual. I like translating intangible feelings to Ven... More »
CYBERSICKNESS: This is your brain and body on computers By Krista Madsen– I’ve managed to avoid donning any virtual reality headsets in my life until I attended a Maker Fair recently in this complex of amazing old brick factories at the Garner Arts Center in G... More »
By Barrett Seaman— Earning good grades has come easily to Naomi Vladeck. Translating academic success into a purposeful life, however, has not come quite so easily. After years of schooling and itinerant jobs in and around the arts, however, Vladeck finally fi... More »
DEATH @ DEPTH: The Fearless Freaks of the Sea, Plus Luminous Fish By Krista Madsen– The word of the week was “submersible” and we know all know the tragic outcome. Awaiting the inevitable news of the demise of the Titan five—apparently lost at deep sea post-im... More »
THE (DEAD) SKIN PROJECT: When you become a word and your author orphans you By Krista Madsen– I love tattoos because of the stories and commitment they carry, the catalogue of what matters most etched on actual skin. Every inch of ink offers the chance at conn... More »
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: Our human impulse to launch our words into water or space By Krista Madsen– When my prior water post was about to launch from earth to start looking for water in outer space, I knew that yet again, this verbose writer was going to need a P... More »
OUT OF MY BLUE MIND: What is it about the water that is so enticing? By Krista Madsen– In an odd and turbulent childhood, some rare quieter moments stand out. I have a blissful scene forever embedded in my brain of me on the floor at the centerline of a long w... More »
MICROBE KILLER NO. 2, PART 2: The slow death of the cure-all and fast demise of its maker By Krista Madsen– After dipping into the history of this stoneware gallon jug found in my parent’s basement, I had many more questions to explore which require a part 2: ... More »
RADAM’S MICROBE KILLER NO. 2: For whatever ails you, including…all female troubles? By Krista Madsen– Let’s set the scene, 2017: As my dad lays dying in the den of the house I was raised in, my daughter interviews him about his parents’ native Denmark for her ... More »
MOTHER’S DAY IS…NOT: “Moms make the magic,” so give us one day where we don’t have to do By Krista Madsen– In light of Mother’s Day this weekend, which supposedly is a holiday celebrating the moms of whatever flavor, I’d like—after a consistent run of really w... More »
DRIVE FOR FREE: I have a luxury sedan because I’m so cheap By Krista Madsen– This all started with those darn tiny houses. I can’t pinpoint what inspired this but I dedicated a good portion of the extra free time I gained during the early-pandemic to watching ... More »
CAVE PAINTINGS: The creativity that fills space and solitude By Krista Madsen– A woman just willingly spent 500 days in a Spanish cave, beating the world record for voluntary cave-dwelling, playing lab rat to science studies about mental health in isolation a... More »
The Era of the Heat Pump is Here And left its silver alien tubes all over my house By Krista Madsen– To recap, my ongoing off-gassing journey so far has included essays on: Danger + Opportunity—exploring the use of “crisis” when attached to climate- or midlife... More »
Should the Pause be a Full-Stop? | Meanwhile, ask for exactly what you want, and careful: you might just get it By Krista Madsen – When I was about eight years old, I wrote a pretty dark “poem” whose text I can’t find but I remember clearly the theme as I’ve r... More »
Not yet! My experiments with the platform are unremarkable and nonthreatening By Krista Madsen – News of late is how thousands of experts, including none other than OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, endorsed a letter urging a six-month “pause” on development of sys... More »
Vote with your wallet and go with a 100% renewable energy supplier – if you can afford to By Krista Madsen – It’s been my goal since I moved into my current house in 2017 to find a way to reduce my energy bills every year until I hit the magical number: zero, ... More »
Permanent Waves Post-childbirth instructions (circa 1942) and uncovering the torturous artifacts from the sediment of a story. By Krista Madsen– When I unhoarded my parents’ house, there was a certain amount of detritus I skimmed off the top into my own (far... More »
The lifestyle revolution to combat climate change begins in your kitchen By Krista Madsen– This is a love letter to my stove, but let’s back up for some context: Now that we measure time in pandemics, I’ve been on a mission to get my life off fossil fuels sinc... More »
Returning Crisis to its diseased roots By Krista Madsen – The best way to begin a story is in medias res, in the middle of things. “Into the thick of it,” goes that song you can’t get out of your head from the Barkyardigans. Sandwiched between my subtitles for... More »
