On display at Naples Botanical Garden through September 10, 2023.

Self preservation tips from America's sweetheart comic.

Toronto is a city of sublime acceptance and compassion, and the recent WorldPride Parade was a striking example of that.

I'll be honest. I thought I was going to cry throughout Isabel Allende's entire lecture in Columbus last night. But I immediately learned that Allende is a "very strong Chilean woman" (as she was introduced) and pulled myself together. Because strong women don't cry at book lectures. That, and I forgot my pack of tissues.

I didn’t believe it was possible to hold a letter that George Washington wrote in 1788. Or flip through a 15th-century medieval manuscript. I definitely didn’t think I could do so less than a mile from home. The State Library of Ohio rules. 

Covert parking spots. The identity of Vinchen. Jeni’s Salty Caramel recipe. Some Short North secrets are best kept hidden. Dames Bond Marketplace shouldn’t be one of them, even if its name is inspired by a super secret agent. 

Dear 8-Year-Old Me, The Star Wars people are going to make more movies, but they’ll be called “prequels.” Just go with it. 

Hair. We brush, cut, pull, twist, shave, dye, and tease it to a near pulp. Many of us define ourselves by it, while others mourn its loss. But rarely do we dedicate an art show to its very existence.  

I went there. 

I recently visited a department store to try on some jeans. As I sifted through stacks of overpriced Italian denim, an associate approached me. She asked for that dreaded bit of information: My Size. I told her. “Really?” she asked. “You don’t look that big.”

There’s only one Stephanie Rond, and she wants to make you feel something. 

“We’re all friends here,” author Laurie Notaro said last night to a giddy crowd of multi-aged women. And I believed her. 

I’m a little obsessive about my favorite musicians. 

Last month, Sade released Soldier Of Love, her first studio album in 10 years. The ponytailed and ear-hooped goddess with a knack for penning love songs that apply to people with pulses has proven that, at 51 years old, she’s still got it. 

Last night was a happy one for Columbus Girl Power. 

Sometimes a movie snatches your heart in its mammoth claw for 101 minutes and there’s nothing you can do but jostle through its forest of emotion. 

If you asked me about my favorite musicians, I’d probably recite a litany of artists -- but not Aimee Mann. She’s my secret.

A long time ago, a friend suggested that I cancel all of my subscriptions to beauty and gossip magazines. She said it would be a mini statement to help weaken the publication empires that make women feel like doody.