Last Friday, I stood among seven-feet-tall faces of five women. Each on its own pedestal, they towered over me — but couldn’t quite block the chilly wind that came off the East River when the sun went behind the clouds. I was on the northern tip of Roosevelt Island in…

On my sister’s 19th birthday, Danny DeVito made us cry. We weren’t expecting to cry while watching Jumanji: The Next Level, though I shouldn’t have been surprised — I cry at nearly every movie I see. Danny DeVito’s character, Eddie, spends much of the movie complaining about being old and…

I nearly laid my exercise habit to rest when I bruised my heel. It was early May, and I had just finished a good mile-and-a-half run outside that I was really excited about. Normally I run inside at the gym, where the treadmill dictates my running speed so I don’t…

Over the last week, I’ve read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a long novel about several generations of a family in Korea and Japan. …

My great-grandparents used to live right around the corner from the funeral home where they arranged — and prepaid — to have their funerals. On our way to my great-grandfather Papa’s funeral, we turned the corner to visit what is now an empty lot — no house, just lots of…

I’ve never met the monster in the basement of my grandmother’s house. His name is Hercurmur, according to my mom’s older sisters, who terrorized her with his existence when she was young. …

I missed the Kentucky state line during last week’s drive. “Are we in Kentucky yet?” Michael asked, and I saw the 2-mile marker. The counting had started at the state line, so we were back in the Bluegrass state. Normally I notice — I say, “Welcome to Kentucky!” to whomever…

We had just backed out of the driveway when my grandma, from the middle seat of the van, said, “Oh, we forgot to take our picture!” It was about 12:40 p.m., and we had a 12-hour drive from her house in Jacksonville, Florida, back to my childhood home in Bowling…