Posts by Anita Diamant
My Daughter’s Tattoo
My little girl sat on the bench beside me. It was summertime; we were on vacation near the sea while waiting for the clock to chime our dinner reservation table. This would be one of her first grown-up restaurant meals and we were excited at the prospect. We were people-watching and the newly-popular belly-button ring…
Read MoreI Heart My Uke
I bought myself a ukelele for my birthday. My husband argued for a guitar, an instrument I strummed (never mastered) in high school. Jim is not a fan of the plink-plink of the ukelele, and I have to agree that the sound of a guitar is far more beautiful. But a uke is less of a commitment and more…
Read MoreYoga Jew
I get invited to talk at temples: big ones and little ones; Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative. As much as I dislike the travel, I like meeting the people, who always make me think. After my presentation at a smallish Midwestern synagogue last spring, I was schmoozing over the dessert table when the rabbi came up…
Read MoreMany Happy Returns
What do you do with old birthday cards? My friends and family are very good card-givers. Most of the ones I get are truly funny, with a few purely sweet ones. I line them up on the mantlepiece for a few weeks and then I forget they’re there and then I recycle them. I don’t regret my heartlessness even a…
Read MoreI think that I shall never see…
The trees on my street are dying of old age. I learned this fact because I, like many of my neighbors, were concerned about the state of the maples that form a leafy canopy over the asphalt road. And so a committee of concerned citizens found out that these trees were planted about 60 years…
Read MoreThe May Deadline
My goal has been to post here once a month, at least, and since the deadline is coming up fast, here I am. You see, I never miss my deadlines. Never. Really. It feels congenital but it’s probably all due to the years I spent as a journalist. Writing for newspapers and magazines, if you miss your deadlines,…
Read MoreDesktop Altar
It’s rare for me to get a question I haven’t heard at a book event or lecture. But last week, someone asked what she might see on top of my desk and I was delighted to have a non-boring answer. Because in addition to the piles of paper (fairly neat), tape dispenser, pencil cup, computer…
Read MoreNew York, NY
I am on my way home (via Amtak/Acelaaaahh) from a 24 hour trip to Manhattan. Train travel manages to be both thrilling and civilized. I’ve read a book and a half. I love New York. Especially in the spring — warm but not smelly. Especially Central Park. Especially when someone else is picking up the tab and I’m…
Read MoreBest seller
My latest novel Day After Night has not been best-seller. Let me be clear that the book is, thanks to word of mouth, selling and selling. But it’s not a block-buster that’s shown up on THE LISTS. At least, not in the USA. But I’ve had word that the book is at the top of…
Read MoreAnniversary
February 11 is the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison after 27 years on Robbin Island. In the Sunday New York Times, political prisoners from around the world reflected on how that day affected their hopes and dreams for the future. Their words made me recall my experience of that day. Home in…
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