http://www.lindabarlow.com The Way We Live Now Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:43:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Oops, today is the big one. My 40th birthday was all about celebration (a trip to Bermuda). My 50th was fun, too, if a little more downbeat because 50 sounded a bit daunting. Now, as time seems to move faster (is there a law of relativity that ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/03/20/turning-60-hey-its-your-birthday-were-gonna-have-a-good-time/ As a lover of the country of Turkey, I've been following the recent tug of war between the secular forces and the elected parliamentary leaders of the AKP (Ak Partesi), which includes members who are observant Muslims. Both Prime Minister Erdogan and President Gul are AKP members, although Gul's ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/03/16/trouble-in-turkey/ Overheard in Guild Wars: (an online MMO) General Chat: Obama the Healer: Monk looking for group for mission. Team chat: Hillary the Warrior: Cool, there's a healer LFG. Add him. We need a healer for this dungeon. Team chat: CampaignMan: He looks like a noob. ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/03/06/obama-the-noob-a-gamers-parody/ Like many women of a certain age (i.e., menopausal), I have experienced the insidious outward creep of my waistline. It's been awhile since I was last able to fit into my "skinny jeans," as the girls from Sex and the City named those pants you can't bear to throw ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/27/the-diet-that-works-for-me/ Every time I start meditating again, I wonder why I ever stopped. Over the years, meditation has proved to be the best strategy I’ve ever found for reducing stress and anxiety. Not only is it very relaxing, but meditation seems to ramp up my creativity as well. I have had ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/27/meditation-stress-relief-and-spiritual-wonder/ There are days (too many of them!) when writing is beyond me, but reading, hearing, feeling some of my favorite poems is not. Here is one of the lyrics I have loved, and been profoundly moved by, for decades: The poet is Gerard Manley Hopkins, and I'm using ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/26/favorite-poems-gerard-manley-hopkins/ The first time I had a panic attack, I didn’t know what was happening, and neither, it seemed, did anybody else. I felt what folks who suffer from anxiety states and panic attacks will well recognize — that foggy, sticky sense of doom. Mind whirring, heart galloping, palms slick and ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/25/fear-and-trembling/ This week’s medical news brought a report about the disappointing results of one of the (thought to be) most promising weapons in the small arsenal against HIV-AIDS: a vaginal gel microbiocide, Carroguard. The gel was being tested in a large-scale trial in South Africa and Botswanna. This ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/21/women-and-hiv-aids-disappointing-news/ I’ve been following politics more this year than I usually do because I have something huge at stake — the possibility of seeing something I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime: the first female President of the United States. As a child in the 1950s, I briefly believed ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2008/02/06/president-hillary-its-about-damn-time/ Cheers for J. K. Rowling! The author of the wonderful Harry Potter series has shown courage in her choices before, particularly when assailed by some extreme members of the religious right who burned copies of her novels (shudder) for their supposedly evil influence on our children. No doubt the book-burnings will ... http://www.lindabarlow.com/2007/10/22/dumbledore-is-gay/