Author Archives: cyrein

There’s nothing special about today. As usual, I woke up beside my dear husband, with a couple of errands on my schedule and a doctor’s appointment in mid-afternoon. Another task that awaits my attention, time-sensitive, though not critical for today, is to begin the organization of tasks needed to serve my court sentence. That is,Continue reading “An Ordinary Day”

During an unexpected conversation among four people who were meeting for the first time, I was presented with multiple reactions to the pronoun dilemma that now confronts us. We were each attending a Harvard North Shore alumni lunch and were at one end of the picnic-style table. I include here the genders and approximate agesContinue reading “Pronouns and Gender”

It was 1981, I was 34 and had just completed my bachelor’s degree in physics and math, graduating with honors, feeling quite invincible. I had not often, if ever, been knowingly rejected and was not aware that it was in my immediate future. I looked with delight at all the help-wanted ads, each one launchingContinue reading “Rejection”

We meet. So much time has passed and who is time? She was my friend, mostly because we worked together. We began working on the same day, me 59 and she, about half my age. She was the one who seemed to me to be the most together of all the new teachers. We taughtContinue reading “Who is Time?”

Among the many amazing cities that I have had the privilege of visiting is Bangkok, Thailand’s capital. During a month in spring of 2001, traveling alone In Thailand without an agenda, I was in Bangkok three times: my first few days, my last two nights, and two nights in the middle of that month. MyContinue reading “One City — Bangkok”

If I were the Creator, could I have imagined a sky so blue with clouds so complex: some plump portions deeply white, some darkened and threatening rain, all in slow motion from the wind, some tiny wisps of white blown invisible into the vibrant blue? If I were the creator, could I have imagined treesContinue reading “If I Were the Creator”

Occasionally, when someone influences us, we know immediately, for example, watching someone on the news doing something spectacular, like rescuing a person from a burning building, or standing up against authority, like Malala Yousafzai. More often, we are not aware of the influence until decades later, as often happens with the influence of parents. Sometimes,Continue reading “Threads of One Person’s Influence”

I’m not writing about ‘fighting’ as in physically fighting, as that’s not actually something I’ve ever done. However, there is a fight that happens when something in you rebels against what the world expects of you, something that is different from the seed of you which is growing, stretching towards what it must become. Here’sContinue reading “What Have I Fought For?”

These horrendous shootings injure each of us like stabs in our hearts. It is senseless to imagine whether it is a worse experience for someone who has young children or older or none at all. Any needless death hurts each of us who witnesses it, even indirectly, through any form of media. I speak asContinue reading “Acts of Love”

Well, I wasn’t actually punched in the stomach, but it certainly felt like it, leaving me surprised, hurt, with the wind knocked out of me. It had been two months since their trial, my four friends and fellow activists. Their sentencing took place last Friday, delayed for multiple logistical reasons. Dozens of us showed upContinue reading “Punched in the Stomach”