First Person Singular by Wendy Braitman

Happy Year of the Tiger

HERE’S OUR WINNER!!!!

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day from Migtwig (who also shot this gorgeous photo):

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All You Need is Love (all together now)

A few days after posting The Benefit of Awe, I decided to get in touch with Dr. Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and “Chief Scientific Advisor” to Chemistry.com to learn more about her point of view. Here’s our unedited email exchange:   Continue reading »

The Price of Beauty

When I see beautiful women aging, particularly women who are defined by their looks, I feel their pain. Not because it’s my story, of course, which is strictly fantasizing about what dating and mating would be like if I were ravishing. But I can imagine what loss it must be to not turn heads anymore. Years ago, I was lucky enough to be standing near the great French actress, Catherine Deneuve. Casually dressed with her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, she was clearly showing age, but her beauty was timeless, as if a spotlight was still following her luminous face.

(Image: Photograph and book by renowned photographer Nadav Kander.)

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #8 from Christine:     Continue reading »

Feeling the Love – Even If You Make it Up

Yes. I’ve made peace with Valentines Day, but not the week leading up to it, when romantic love is bombarding me, and I don’t mean in a good way. The other day, I got ambushed while tuning into a favorite radio show, and even the stalwart Writer’s Almanac is featuring a week of literary love letters (although today’s are from Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, and how can you not enjoy that?) The only sane response is to buy a T-shirt. The latest is from Alexander Wang’s less expensive T collection, and it’s soft and chic. I’m in LOVE.

(Image: Design Sponge, a site of visual inspiration and useful, too! edited by Grace Booney)

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #7 from Jen G.:       Continue reading »

Ah Oui! If Love Were This Easy

Google’s really cool ad that first aired during the Superbowl

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #6 from Nancy:     Continue reading »

The Benefit of Awe

I took myself to the movies on Saturday, and saw The Third Man, a British film noir masterpiece, and it put me in the best mood. And still this morning I breezed into my car with lifted spirits. Even the jerk that cut me off from the right lane couldn’t sour me. I turned on NPR, and the host announced that in honor of Valentines Day, he’d be featuring conversations about love, EVERY day this week. Not that there’s anything wrong with love, but does it have to be for a whole week?   Continue reading »

It’s Tough Not to Be Girlie in L.A.

The other day, I heard two women having a spirited conversation about their “Brazilian.” I assumed it was some chitchat about a bikini wax, when, in fact, they were swapping stories about the latest trend in hair straightening. But you probably knew that. With my short, curly hair, I’m an anomaly in Los Angeles. I haven’t been near a brush or blow dryer for years. There are times I feel misunderstood, especially when “friends” tell me that a longer coif might increase my dating pool.   But I gotta go. Haircut at 4.

Photo: Gents by Eric Ogden, part of an exhibition at Hous Projects, now through March 4th.

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #4 from Amber:       Continue reading »

“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor”

The orgasm quote is from the late, great, Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921- February 4, 2006). The Feminine Mystique, her seminal book published in 1963, shattered the myth of the contented housewife:

Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night — she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question — “Is this all?”

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #3 from Emily:   Continue reading »

Is There a Downside to Good Taste?

I envisioned myself a connoisseur until a few hours ago, when I realized I wasn’t spelling the word correctly. Even now as I post this, I’m checking a dictionary to make sure I get it right. (It’s the second “o” that throws me, and if you can’t spell it, you’re probably not one.) Sometimes I’m afraid I’ve gotten too rarefied, especially when searching for a date. Does the man I’m going out with have to like literature, fine art and haute cuisine, or is it okay that his chosen writer is Dan Brown and favorite restaurant, a greasy spoon?

Image: Connoisseur, 1962, by Norman Rockwell, whose birthday is today!

Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day, reason #2 from Jill:             Continue reading »

What We Can Learn from Groundhog Day

Don’t rely on anecdotal evidence. Our brains are hard-wired to make sense out of random patterns. But we’re often wrong, no matter how compelling the evidence may be. Antibiotics can’t cure the flu, damp weather doesn’t aggravate arthritis, ice won’t heal a burn, unmarried women aren’t crankier than married ones, groundhogs can’t predict an early spring. On the other hand, the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis, is surprisingly charming and true. One of my all-time favorite films.

Today starts the countdown of ten reasons Why It’s Great to Be Single on Valentines Day.       Chocolate winner announced on February 14.

From Rachel: Same reason it’s great to be single every day: You can do whatever you want to!