More Tales of Two Lists
As I wrote in my last blog post- it’s not so easy to be grateful. Especially, when some days,…
March 24, 2024As I wrote in my last blog post- it’s not so easy to be grateful. Especially, when some days,…
March 24, 2024Last year I had the pleasure of meeting filmmakers Debra Gonsher Vinik and her husband David Vinik. During our…
December 17, 2022We all go about our day, juggling personal and professional obligations; popping on and off Zoom calls, all the…
June 11, 2022I’ve been practicing gratitude for a long time. I mean a reallllllly long time. As in before cell phones.…
September 21, 2019When I was growing up, I thought I’d go away to college. I dreamt about it, checked out and read tens of novels from the library about it, looked over innumerable catalogs—it never dawned on me that I wouldn’t go. Not once.
But when the time rolled around for me to apply not only to colleges, but for scholarships and financial aid as well, my parents refused to fill out the financial forms. “I know what they’re going to say,” my father said,
May 30, 2019I was trying to make a list of all the things I’m grateful for, but instead I became overwhelmed…
December 4, 2023I live my life- as I imagine most of us do- working, loving, enjoying, commiserating, and rejoicing with my…
September 21, 2022AND YET (with acknowledgement to Alan Jay Lerner’s “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” Every person I speak to…
July 25, 2022A lifetime ago, when I was head of production for a short-lived joint venture called CBS/Fox Video, I used…
December 22, 2021We have been very blessed to have had Bunky in our lives for the last 14 years. We got…
April 27, 2021Do we “earn” all the good things that come our way? But we don’t deserve the bad things that befall us? Rabbi Elliott Tepperman weighs in.
January 4, 2021When I was a little girl, my mother had this dress, a bubble dress. I think it was in…
October 19, 2020Today August 14. 2020, is David and my 26th wedding anniversary. What better time to make a check list…
August 14, 2020It’s the little things. It’s always the little things that make life so wonderful, so astonishing, so worth it…
August 9, 2020Sometimes being grateful isn’t a matter of being thankful for what you have or what you’ve experienced, but rather…
June 8, 2020I was way more connected to my father than my mother and I take after him in a great…
January 19, 2020I was doing my yearly reflection and writing when I was caught off guard by the din of the…
January 1, 2020I am grateful to Sirius which has a Broadway channel. And I am grateful to my mother who shared…
May 20, 2018When I was a little tyke in the Bluebirds/Campfire girls, one of the many earworms they infected us with…
August 20, 2017I was not happy in high school. But I don’t know many people were. People may not have talked…
July 9, 2017If your mother is still alive, I envy you. If your mother is still alive and the two of…
May 14, 2017Years ago, I imagined what death was like. Not that I was looking for it—I just imagined that I…
March 10, 2017I had a premonition. The last time I blogged, I imagined that if Drumpf actually won, I would need…
December 30, 2016I’ve been trying to figure out why this election has literally moved me to tears. Why I wake up…
October 30, 2016Whenever I speak about documentary filmmaking to audiences, whether students considering the field or adult aficionados of the genre,…
September 18, 2016There are a lot of things in life that don’t manage to live up to one’s dream of it.…
August 13, 2016Watching HBO’s Confirmation, I am drawn back in time. I remember sitting in front of my television literally glued…
May 22, 2016I came home from filming in Uganda and Rwanda, stood in the middle of my kitchen, and was filled…
January 31, 2016Growing up, Thanksgiving in my house was a big affair. I remember my mother ז״ל waking up at 5:30 to…
November 27, 2015Mem’ries, Light the corners of my mind Misty water-colored memories Of the way we were. There is always a…
October 31, 2015Rabbi Felicia L. Sol of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York shares the value of taking the time to…
September 15, 2015At the risk of stating the obvious, no one likes admitting they were wrong. But no was has ever…
September 13, 2015The lovely Marsha Keene-Hutchason, Executive Director of the Susanna Wesley Family Center in Missouri said to me in an…
June 10, 2015On a beautiful spring day 3 ½ years ago, I wrote the voiceover to the very first video we…
December 20, 2014Here’s another tranquil and serene video that will make you think of the deeper meaning of life.
September 11, 2014..but I do believe in fair. No matter what job you’re in, no matter how high up on the…
August 30, 2014With a nod to Peer Gynt, there are layers of people in our lives. Perhaps the layer closest to…
July 14, 2014In this 20th Mincha Moment, writer, lecturer, activist, advocate and co-creator of Ms. Magazine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin reveals why…
May 19, 2014I don’t use the word skeevy very often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I used it.…
May 17, 2014Most of the time I think about tangible things that I am grateful for—concrete things, like David, chocolate, a…
February 28, 2014David and I met. December 23, 1993. It was a business Christmas party of some duplication facility. Held at…
December 24, 2013This is our 19th Mincha Moment video!! And we are thrilled to do this with the incredible music and…
November 29, 2013When I first began this website and the videos on it, the voiceover in the very first video included…
October 24, 2013It’s impossible, literally impossible not to be grateful for SOMETHING. Here’s what I mean. We all know that we’re…
August 31, 2013At times it can seem like we’re deluged with trouble, overwhelmed with worry. It can seem like too much…
July 11, 2013I don’t know about anyone else, but since I’m lucky enough not to have had anyone close to me…
July 11, 2013I was a Bluebird, when I was a little girl. The song we sang: “Make new friends, but keep…
June 19, 2013If someone told you the world had plenty of natural resources, but the one thing it needed more of…
May 22, 2013Many of my days I have no recourse but to take on the forces of darkness: self-absorbed people who…
April 17, 2013Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, talks about the link between gratitude…
February 19, 2013It used to be that a blizzard was something I actually enjoyed. I would hunker down with a good…
February 10, 2013“The miracle is not to walk on water, The miracle is to walk on the green earth, in the…
January 6, 2013Three days ago, the Financial Times announced that the number one “toy” for kids this Christmas will be a…
December 26, 2012I think perhaps this thing I have about gratefulness is a result of fear. I am afraid that one…
November 20, 2012Harold G. Koenig, M.D., director of Duke University’s Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, examines the link between gratitude,…
November 8, 2012And then there are the days that the well seems to run dry. Bad people at work—I mean really…
September 8, 2012Rabbi Irwin Kula, author, journalist, radio host and co-President of the National Center for Jewish Learning and Leadership (CLAL), reminds…
August 24, 2012I may be the only one I know who actually likes to iron. Weird, huh?! And I actually have…
July 30, 2012When I was in college, I didn’t want to be there. Rather than drop out, I decided to work…
July 5, 2012Remember to spend each day to the fullest in gratitude and happiness.
July 2, 2012I’ve been thinking that one of the reasons it’s so hard to be grateful, is that most of us…
May 26, 2012Treasuring each moment is a wonderful way to express gratitude.
May 24, 2012What now seems like a lifetime ago, David and I were working on our first documentary together. It was…
April 19, 2012So I am going to go running, and I’m a little jazzed. After all, I have been running for…
March 30, 2012Taking time to be grateful. “I’m grateful for… I’m thankful for..” This is set to the music of the…
March 30, 2012Tonight is the Yahrzeit of my father’s passing. This is one of those times that, there’s no doubt, it…
March 19, 2012“Being thankful for this time,” for the simple things, for the joyful…
February 20, 2012So I am smart enough to figure out that for David to go down to Florida and see his…
February 17, 2012My Dad, may he rest in peace, was a stockbroker. Not just a stockbroker, but a great stockbroker. He…
January 26, 2012It’s easy to get bogged down — and start complaining about anything and everything. Complaining is, after all, one…
January 26, 2012Finding the meaning in every moment provides a stronger meaning to life, a grateful life.
December 30, 2011A funny thing happened on my trip to Israel over the summer. I got in touch with my ex-husband,…
December 29, 2011It’s hard to imagine that I would ever put Angelina Jolie’s name in anything I ever wrote or talked…
December 11, 2011Taking a moment, one moment, to be thankful for the wonderful life.
November 29, 2011Without warning, the great freak Fall snow of 2011 came. On a lovely Saturday afternoon, we lost power around…
November 16, 2011Be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit I can’t claim that for my own—it’s Albert Schweitzer’s,…
October 23, 2011Don’t ever think for a moment that I believe it’s easy every day to feel grateful. Some days I…
September 28, 2011Take a moment to count your blessing everyday– it may even help you fall asleep.
September 8, 2011It’s that same old thing– you never think about something until…it’s not there, or it’s not working right, or…
September 5, 2011I glance at a paperback, which looks like I bought it a thousand years ago, ( I DID!) yet…
August 25, 2011It feels great to express gratitude for the things we love.
August 17, 2011After two days of taping gleaning down in Virginia, (which although the people were incredibly lovely, still felt like…
July 28, 2011Spend time wisely and take a moment to to appreciate our world’s wondrous treasures.
July 26, 2011