Author Archives: cyrein

Although I have experienced sexism in my life — being turned down for a job because I am a woman — I am not aware of being a victim of ageism. At 76 years old, I have had the opportunity to work until I was ready to retire at 70 years and I have enjoyedContinue reading “Aging and Ageism”

Even when a major holiday contains many familiar elements through the years, it’s never identical from one year to the next. However, this year’s Christmas for me retained essentially none of its usual components. Nevertheless, it was not a bad Christmas, simply different. The essential elements of a holiday are not confined to the actualContinue reading “A Different Holiday”

In early December, I had the honor and pleasure of lobbying with ECCO. That’s an abbreviated way of saying that I flew to Washington, DC with three other members of the Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) and two United Interfaith Action (UIA) representatives in order to urge Massachusetts legislators to support the path to citizenshipContinue reading “Lobbying with ECCO”

Among the myriad after-thoughts in my mind after spending two weeks in Egypt are these that each deserve attention: Cruising the Nile, the food and eating, markets and bargaining, ancient pyramids, tombs and temples; hieroglyphics, highway travel, hotels, the weather, our tour group (A.R.E.) and its security. Here is a beginning account. I must startContinue reading “Notes on Egypt”

It’s five days before we leave for two weeks in Egypt and my brain is scrambled with thoughts of packing, passports, nailing down details of travel minutiae, and Covid anxiety. Among all of this was our decision yesterday to drive to the local Logan Express, to make sure we knew the exact location where weContinue reading “Anticipating Egypt”

This is not about stretching as physical exercise, but personally stretching beyond our comfort level. My earliest memory of stretching in that way was when I was about sixteen years old. I was at Mass, Catholic Mass, in the early 1960’s. One of the church announcements invited teenagers to try out for the color guardContinue reading “Stretching”

On Sunday, I was in Cambridge, walking two miles in the 17th annual Honk parade, costumed as a methane molecule. The Honk parade celebrates all things activist, this year accompanied by twenty bands. The weather was glorious, the route from Davis Square to Harvard Square packed with people of all ages, all happy, celebratory, andContinue reading “Being in a Parade”

Thinking about the world and me, my place in it, and my responsibility to it — these are topics for a book, not an essay! However, I will compress my thoughts into an essay. Gratitude, wonder, awe, and something else, something beautifully conveyed in Cavafy’s poem, Ithaka, destiny perhaps, are among my responses to ourContinue reading “The World and Me”

Recently, a friend who attends our Quaker Meeting intermittently with her two children announced that she was considering running for county sheriff. Although I liked her very much and we always enjoyed having her children present, I must admit that I felt some confusion. As a non-Quaker friend said to me, “I’m not sure I’veContinue reading “A Quaker Sheriff?”

My newest community consists of EV chargers, that is, people who are charging (or waiting to charge) their electric vehicles with me. This is a completely new community, as I’ve only experienced it three times; however, those three times have all occurred during the past month. Yesterday (August 11, 2022), it happened during my returnContinue reading “EV Charging and Community”