Ethan Walmark, I am always going to be able to say, “I knew you when.” Because judging by the past weekend, this 6-year-old, piano-playing phenom from Westport is destined to be a star. Ethan is the son of my friends, Allison and Michael Walmark. Like a lot of other 6-year-olds, he has a ton of energy, an irrepressible laugh and a beautiful smile, and he loves kindergarten. He developed an amazing musical ability and interest very early on—at only 12 months, he could plink “Mary Had A Little Lamb” on the piano. By age four, Ethan had developed a remarkable talent for listening to a song only …
Families, no matter the culture or heritage, pass stories down to their children. It’s the way we teach them about their traditions, their culture and their forbearers. My children learn a bit about their father’s side of the family each time we travel to see them in France. A bit of the language has started to seep in, and my 5-year-old daughter has become quite the fan of foie gras and pungent Roquefort cheese. My 9-year-old son was completely enraptured hearing the story of his great-grandfather who fought for the French Resistance in World War II. And so I’ve wondered, When will it be …
Shhh! Don’t tell my husband! That might be what the thousands of women who are reading Fifty Shades of Grey are saying right now. Actually, it’s what one friend who’s reading it really did tell me. What that, guys? You haven’t heard of Fifty Shades of Grey? I’ll bet your wife has. It’s the buzz of Facebook, the talk of every Girls Night Out, and next-on-the-list for many suburban book clubs. Shucks, even the “Today” show ran a segment about it. Fifty Shades of Grey is the first in a trilogy of erotic novels by British author E.L. James. They’re about a mysterious billionaire named Christian…
This is a story of luck, and this is a story of heart. This is a story of a little girl in Africa, not yet one year old, who has suffered so much already in her short life. This is the story of one woman on the other side of the world, who set off a chain reaction that moved a mountain to help that little girl. This is the story of the angels here on earth who came together—with the help of coincidence, serendipity and sheer will—to do pure good. An email heard ‘round the world In a million years, documentary filmmaker Megan Smith-Harris never imagined she’d be waiting at airport arrivals at …
If I close my eyes, I can hear the music. I can almost feel as if I’m driving up to college in my used 1981 white-and-turquoise Buick Regal, cassette tape blaring, and me singing along at the top of my lungs… “Ooooh, I wanna dance with somebody…” Circa late ‘80s, sugar-sweet pop songs and soulful, sweeping love ballads. Whitney Houston sang the soundtrack for my coming of age. God, she was gorgeous and had that incredible, imagination-defying voice. In a time when there was not much crossover between ‘black’ and ‘white’ music (Vanilla Ice was a ‘rapper,’ remember?) she was comfortable, …
I’m more than a number, my family is greater than a statistic. We are the face of unemployment. I first wrote about our experience shortly after my husband was laid off. That was 14 months ago. Unfortunately, we’re still in the same boat. Both of my Patch columns, “From the Driver’s Seat” and “Patch In,” are written from a very personal perspective. In writing about the layoff, I tried to give a glimpse of what it felt like and what we were going through. I couldn’t claim to be opining from my perspective each week if I didn’t really give readers an honest account and the true context of my …
Oooh, Newt, you bad boy! Seems we hardly knew ye. Well, actually, we did. We already knew of your past marital infidelities and failings -- even if we didn’t know all the sordid details your ex-wife is coming forward with now -- for the same old reason: because politics and sex make repeated bedfellows. And I mean that with every sense of the pun intended. At press-time [Jan. 21], news had leaked about about an interview that Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, had given to ABC News. She reportedly told reporter Brian Ross that Newt had asked for an ‘open marriage,’ confessing to an …
