Who are we supposed to look to for proof that we don't have to disappear into obligation and jadedness by the time we hit the mid mark? I'm looking for the woman who can show me.

A book about presence, written by someone who seems barely present with or tolerant of the reader's actual experience of reading it: that's the central irony I kept returning to, and I was never quite able to shake it.

It's really no woman's fault that she feels the need to diet, obsessively work out, or take a drug to lose weight. It is what is not-so-subtly asked of all of us. Especially now, in the most conservative era we've lived through in quite a while. But this is where everyone's got it backwards.

If we perceive that the "big players" - the private-jet-celebrities and the fossil fuel CEOs - aren't doing the heavy lifting, our brain registers our own small efforts as futile. We start abiding by the thought process of "no ethical consumption under capitalism" and call it a day. We aren't necessarily becoming "bad" people, we're just tired of being the only ones trying.

There's another kind of tragedy here, one that takes place on an individual level - the same one I find myself grappling with at this very moment. Why must I wait to hear what my chosen media outlet says about this - or anything, for that matter - before I can form my own opinion?

And the solution is going to start with some tough, tough love.

A very common response to the new administration in the United States is one of apathy - not exactly that people don't care about the...

It's interesting when signs and signals show up again and again. I often seek them out, but I'm realizing lately that when we actually...