Archives What I Really Know

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: Why Not Me?

Time to move from the shadows of my easy chair of thinking and into the bright light of action. Time to tell my oncologist my decisions about breast cancer surgery.

November 5, 2009

What I Really Know About Tough Choices: A Decision About John

Judy Diaddigo from Gainesville, Ga., writes a What I Really Know essay on tough choices and her foster child.

October 30, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Digital Conversion Woes

Analog television, my faithful companion and window to the world, was recently replaced by digital television, source of frustration. With digital, the menu is sparse and unreliable and the “No Signal” message is all too familiar.

October 22, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: High-Minded Pursuits

I rarely read anymore. Instead, I watch TV. And much as I long to expand my mind, to learn new information and skills, and—let’s face it—to sound more intelligent at parties, these intentions always lose out to the absolute comfort and reliable certainty of watching my favorite TV dramas.

October 15, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Meeting Lois Lane

A reader writes about meeting the real Lois Lane through the power of television.

October 8, 2009

What I Really Know About Television: Time Together

I still believe that my grandparents would never have resumed talking if television hadn’t brought them back together.

October 5, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Perennial Blooms

A reader from Maine writes about what she really knows about the legacy of roses.

September 25, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: My Changing Heritage

Although my daughters and grandchildren remain a top priority, my legacy will be the thousands of kids through the coming years who, because of the work of Kids First and my role in its development, will break the insidious cycle of child abuse and live wholesome and happy lives.

September 10, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Genetic Heritage

I thought that my father, born to Polish parents, was Polish in every sense of the word, and assumed I had inherited that legacy. But recently, through DNA testing, I discovered I have no Polish in me at all.

September 1, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Mama's Cedar Chest

A reader writes a What I Really Know essay about memory lane and a cedar chest.

August 27, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Mama's Cedar Chest

A reader writes a What I Really Know essay about memory lane and a cedar chest.

August 20, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Music Lessons

When I was in the third grade, my mother bought an old upright piano. She had always wanted to play when she was a little girl but never had the opportunity. She decided I should take piano lessons.

August 13, 2009

What I Really Know About Legacy: Family Value

A California writer learns a legacy of thrift and value from her immigrant family.

August 6, 2009

What I Really Know About Freedom: A Second Wind

Ami E. Rodland writes about the freedom she has found after her husband's death and the realization that she can thrive on her own.

July 30, 2009

What I Really Know About Freedom: I Had It. My Sister Did Not

In 1949, my parents had to escape what is now the Czech Republic. So one night, my father and mother left their 6-year-old daughter, Ivana, with her grandmother and pretended they were merely going away for the weekend.

July 24, 2009