Your favorite work can tell you a lot about your next step. — In July, I will celebrate 25 years of working as a designer. Like many folks, the pandemic has prompted me to take a look back on my career and a look forward to the future. What pieces spark joy at having done them, and what does that tell me? Over…

A lesson from Mom — Note: My mother passed away March 26, 2001. This is a memoir-as-letter to her. I never told you about the sit-in I staged at the baseball diamond. But I was following in your footsteps. Or, more accurately, foot stops. I remember hearing the story of the time you staged a…

What would a future you find excavating the layers of past work? — I recently went down the rabbit hole of the Wayback Machine. My coworkers and I were coming up with concepts for an ugly sweater, and one of us pulled up snapshots of our company’s home pages over the years. Yikes. …

Crow’s Feet Prompt #7 — When I think about technological innovation over my lifetime, I realize that I’ve been what they call a “late adopter,” as in “let everyone else be the guinea pig, thank you very much.” But I come by it legitimately. We didn’t get a color TV until the late 1960s. We…

Sometimes feminine wiles are all you have to work with — I remember the first — and I am almost positive — the only time I used my “feminine wiles.” And I’m not ashamed to admit it worked; so there, Gloria Steinem. B. had an interview at a Wall Street firm, something to do with putting his math degree to work…

Do pictures really tell a story, or do we? — Two photos, taken 25-plus years apart. Two different couples, with nearly identical poses: Spouses sitting on a bench, she to the right of him, knees facing knees. …

It took 27 years. I’m a slow learner. — For years, I kept a balsa wood box with me; it traveled from Richmond to Crystal City to Falls Church, Va. It was painted black, with Jackson Pollock-like drips and splatters of white, hot pink, and metallic gold acrylic paint. I created this masterpiece in “occupational therapy” during my week’s…