August 15, 2026 Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Back to New My children go back to school on Monday. I realize that for my French and US readers, August 17th is still very much summer. But in our house, la rentrée has arrived. I’ve written about la rentrée before. In fact, almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about why I find myself using the French word even when I’m speaking English. (For the whole piece and a picture of my first day of school in 1995, it’s here) “Back to...

July 15, 2026 Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Building an Internal Compass In the past two weeks, I have been on two camping trips. Both ended with one of my children asking to go home. Once we stayed. Once we packed up the tent and drove home. Looking back, I think both were the right decision. This newsletter is about bravery—but perhaps not in the way we usually think about it. It's about learning to tell the difference between discomfort and distress, why our brains don't...

July 1, 2026 Adaptation I can still picture the sweater. It was bright blue, and by the end of my speech there were dark sweat marks under both arms that stretched almost to my belly button. I was fourteen years old and had decided to run for president of my class. I gave that speech everything I had. And then I lost. Later, I cried into my teacher's beautiful silk blouse, leaving sweat, tears and probably a fair amount of snot in my wake. Maybe that's why hot flashes make me a little...