I remember taking great pride, even as a young girl, in thinking creatively and being a nonconformist. And now that I’m “grown up,” well, how many Torah-observant women do you know who are passionate about writing, avid racquetball players, lifelong collectors of seashells and gemstones, and also enjoy composing music, painting abstracts, and a good game of football? Not many, perhaps, but I can assure you that there are other out-of-the-box, eclectic individuals like myself in our greater Torah community, whose interests and professions are not your humdrum standard. I had the pleasure of speaking to a few of them.

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Fame is a funny thing. In today’s America, it is coveted and admired, even if it comes from nothing more than hitting a ball with a stick called a bat. Some people even seem to be famous only for being famous! Yet fame – or, more appropriately, renown and recognition – is also a predictable result of doing something of value to others. Rabbanim, speakers, teachers, and those who devote time and effort to community work – though they shy away from publicity – tend to be well known and liked in the community. It is just as Pirchei Avos

Do you remember the thrill of getting behind the wheel for the first time as an independent driver with a brand-new license tucked in your pocket or purse? Do you recall volunteering to do errands for your parents, just so you could drive the family car? Did you, like me, pick up a friend – or two or three – and zip carefree to the beach or out for an ice cream?

  Back in the “good old days,” as soon as you thought you were ready to take the test, you just went in and took it. Some people,

“Hysterics doesn’t seem to be the way to go,” says Mrs. Robin Alberg, recalling a personal meltdown when one of her children acted up in the middle of South Dakota. It was so bad, says this Seattle-based home-schooling mother, that she even threatened to cut short their long-anticipated six-week summer road trip. In her talk at this May’s Torah Home Schooling Conference, in Baltimore, the humorous Mrs. Alberg recommended various constructive strategies for self-care to counteract the common, albeit happy, stresses of home schooling.
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  This was just one of many fascinating presentations at this year’s conference,

When I hear of people who have decided to change careers, I really relate. Those of you who know me as a writer for the Where What When and other Jewish magazines probably don’t realize that I was supposed to be a health care administrator. Soon after I finished graduate school, however, I decided to pursue my passion for writing – which I have felt since I was eight years old – and combine it with my fascination with the medical world. Rather than work in a hospital, as I had planned, I embarked upon my literary career – first

I write this aboard AirTran Flight #299, returning home from a very short but sweet visit to my snowbird sister and brother-in-law, in Boynton Beach, Florida. A twoday megadose of summer-in-February spent at their retirement community gave me a taste of retirement living as well as of Florida’s sunlight and vibrant color. Indeed, I saw people wearing fuchsia, sunny yellow, and teal in the middle of the winter. I snapped pictures of pink flamingos in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, heard the screech of deep green parrots in the palms, and combed the inky blue Gulf Stream beach for exotic seashells. I