Thoughts From Pilar Gerasimo
LATEST STORIES
Explore Your Options
When I was about 12 years old, I saw the 1971 film Harold and Maude for the first time, and I, like many others, found myself changed by it.
One Page at a Time
I am a person surrounded by books. Wonderful books. Brilliant books. Books galore. Books a-go-go. I love books. And I haven’t nearly enough time to read them all.
Out From Under the Rug
Once, when I was about 8 years old, I tried that tricky housecleaning shortcut where you sweep some dirt under an area rug rather than bothering with a dustpan.
Try It, You’ll Like It
So much of what we do, we do automatically. Because it’s easy, or it’s there, or because it’s just what people do.
Far From Perfect
One of the great joys of editing this magazine is striving (albeit sometimes clutzily) to walk its wonderful talk.
Back and Forth
Ah, the new year. It’s kind of like starting a new journal, a new chapter, a new relationship. It’s all fresh and clean, all full of possibility.
Virtue’s Rewards
Do the right thing. Seek and ye shall find. There is no try, there is only do.
All I Want for Christmas
If there’s any time of year when it’s easy to lose one’s sense of center, it’s the holidays. Then again, if there’s any time of year ideal for regaining one’s sense of center, I’d say that it’s the holidays, too. Particularly if you get an early and proactive start on it.
Hopping the Track
Funny thing about ruts: You don’t always recognize you’ve fallen into one until you’ve come out the other side. We’re creatures of habit, after all. And that’s not entirely a bad thing.
Breaking the Gag Rule
My nephew, Toliver, turns 12 this month, and like many kids his age, he names pizza, burgers, macaroni and cheese, chips, fries, and similar fare among his best-liked foods.
Survival of the Fittest
The term “ageless vitality” has taken on a whole new meaning for me since this spring, when my 76-year-old father’s lifelong dedication to health and fitness may very well have saved his life.
Wild Child
One summer, when I was about 8 years old, a lovely young woman named Jennifer came to spend a month or so on the farm where I grew up. Jennifer, who must have been the friend of a family friend, was a mysterious creature.
One Loop at a Time
There was a time, not so very long ago, when I was less healthy than I am today. And I hope, looking back five years from now, that I can say the same thing.
The Whole Truth
Call me radical, but given the ragged state of health and fitness in our country, I think it’s about time we started seeking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about what really makes for a healthy way of life. It’s also high time we all started saying “no thanks” to the hype.
Stand Up for Your Cells
We’ve known for a long time that spending too much time and energy at work can cost us. We’ve all seen hardworking friends disappear off the social radar while in hot pursuit of career success, and many of us have risked becoming strangers to our own families as the result of work demands that made no space for weekends and evenings at home.
In Praise of Picky Eating
You know that restaurant scene in When Harry Met Sally? No, not that scene. I mean the part where Sally orders her food prepared to minute specifications. I’m starting to do that. I suspect a lot of us are.
Getting to Yes
Four years ago, I got a call that changed my life. It was an invitation to edit this magazine. And, initially, I said no.
Love It Like It Is
Editors are, as a group, given to tinkering. It’s part of what makes us good at what we do, and in many ways, an inherent aspect of who we are.
Under the Microscope
I don’t think anyone would have predicted that I would grow up to be a science geek. I was a dyed-in-the-wool English major pretty much from the time I could read.
Reflections
One morning a couple of weeks back, I was running by a big plate-glass window in my neighborhood, and something novel happened.
Finding Things Right
I used to have this ugly little habit – something I now refer to as looking for trouble.