Lydia Pinkham: Women’s Health Entrepreneur

I recently spent a week in Maine, visiting my BFF from graduate school. We indulged in history nerdery. We binge-watched Ride or Die on Netflix.[1] We ate great food. And we talked about the ideas that are driving me these days: women artists, women entrepreneurs, and what a young woman from the Midwest would have…

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Chasing Beauty

I just finished reading Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner by Natalie Dykstra. Here’s the short version—wow! Here’s the slightly longer version: Beautiful prose.  Rich with insights.  Wonderful storytelling. Not necessarily in that order I did not go into Chasing Beauty cold. Natalie and I became deadline buddies and fast friends in the…

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Lillian Moller Gilbreth Designed My Kitchen

Those of you who know me in real life know that I am what the late great Peg Bracken[1] dubbed a “good cook who likes to.” Over the years, I’ve cooked in many different kitchens, each of which had its own problems. When My Own True Love and I moved into our current house, I…

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