Author Alexandra Retana blogs about her book, medicine, kids, life, and whatever else comes to mind
This summer, I decided that I missed my kids and wanted to spend more time with them, so I bit the bullet and gave the nanny the summer off, dramatically cut my hours (flinching as I await blowback from my partners), and decided that I would be the one spending blissful summer afternoons eating strawberries … Continue reading Shut Up About Eighteen Sweet Summers
'Tis the season. The season to assert my Jewishness, like, hard. Christmas season. Okay, let me correct that. I don't actually need to assert my Jewishness per se because I am Jewish AF as far as ethnic identities go, but it's my kids. Take the Catholic spouse and add to that NOT living in Brookline, MA where … Continue reading Tis the season for identity crisis: the Elf dilemma
Just the other day, we were remembering how I got food poisoning as a child while on vacation in Ukraine on the Azov sea. What happened was this. In communist Russia, food was a commodity not always readily available, especially in remote towns, and especially things like sugar, ketchup, tea - these things were usually … Continue reading Theory of relativity
Have I ever said why I decided I needed to marry my husband? I have talked quite a bit about how it's great that he is my husband at the moment because all evidence points to me being unable to survive without him, but I don't think I've ever actually described the confluence of events that … Continue reading Why I married my husband
What exactly is a pueblo remains a difficult concept to explain to those who don't see it for themselves. A pueblo is a village, or a town, but rather than a strict geographical definition, it's more of a way to describe a community. Also, it's a people or the people. The word also carries with it a … Continue reading It takes a village: Christmas time in the Basque country
December 25, 2007 As an outsider looking onto what is completely routine and normal in the town of Portugalete, of Bizkaia, País Vasco, España, I note things to myself that people here take for absolute granted. For example, I am constantly aware of the ethnic pride-slash-mild superiority complex that perfumes the air. I get … Continue reading Why the Basques don’t need Santa Claus
Once in a while, I meet an innocent ignoramus who'll ask me with a straight face: "do they celebrate Thanksgiving in Russia?" I usually reply, "Well, it's a holiday that started because people wanted to celebrate the Pilgrims arriving in America, so... no. No Native Americans in, you know, Russia." Russian immigrants like us celebrate … Continue reading My first Thanksgiving
And Why Not! 