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Iris Ruth Pastor

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Category: Blog

Come Sit at My Table

February 26, 2021April 24, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

First, I kinda disappear. Then, I am flooded with euphoria – a feeling of intense, anesthetizing pleasure washing over me. I’d describe it as a temporary high – a fleeting “all is okay” moment. Of course, afterwards, I feel awful, hopeless, despairing that I have wasted yet another day because I am out of control. Continue reading

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What’s Wrong With Self-Care??

February 19, 2021April 24, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

There is NOTHING wrong with self-care! Why? Because if you don’t take care of yourself, you simply can’t take care of others – as in the saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” How do we keep our proverbial cup full? First, we figure out what we need. If we zero in on what Continue reading

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HOW TO TURN YOUR MAN INTO A SUPER GIFT GIVER JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE’S DAY!

February 12, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

Oh No! Just two more shopping days until Valentine’s Day– the holiday with roots dating back to around 270 A.D. at least. Not to be negative, but I’d be willing to bet ever since that ancient time more fights between couples have been occurring on or shortly thereafter this hallowed day – due to dashed Continue reading

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My Ever-Expanding, Totally Endless, Relentlessly Exhausting To-Do List

February 5, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

One hundred twenty-five years ago, the following appeared in the Jewish newspaper in my hometown:    A training school for women about to enter the nuptial state might be a capital idea, as many of the marital complications are the result of ignorance of the first principles of cooking. The woman who desires to keep Continue reading

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People Tell Me Things

January 29, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

I’ve been writing my weekly column for over 30 years. Sometimes, like many episodes of Seinfeld, I write about “nothing.” Sometimes, I write about “something.” Either way,  people seem drawn to adding to my body of knowledge.  People Tell Me Things Like… PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO: Women in the Middle: Living Life After 50 – Continue reading

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Should We Listen to Those Who Think Differently?

January 22, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

I was fuming. My heart was racing and my temples pounding. Less than 20 feet away from my kitchen window, a crew of burly, barrel-chested men were climbing trees, lassoing branches and wielding chain saws to take down four very old and beautiful shade trees in my neighbor’s yard. I do what I always do Continue reading

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Ever Been at a Tantalizing Intersect

January 15, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

Ever been at a tantalizing intersection? I was – just this week. Torn between keeping up with news of the yet another presidential impeachment, the upcoming preparations for the Inauguration and the latest updates on Covid vaccines versus tackling my New Year’s Resolution List. The List won out. My neurons were all fired up to Continue reading

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Weighing In on the New Year

January 8, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

It’s Wednesday afternoon. CNN is playing in the background as I sit at my computer penning my weekly newsletter to you. TOPIC: Weighing In on the New Year. Halfway through, my attention rivets to the TV screen a few feet away. Hordes of angry, hyper-active people are storming the Capital Building, scaling walls, screaming obscenities. Continue reading

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Three Things You Will Need in the New Year

January 1, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

I love this picture above. It is marked The Circle of Life, but for me – it has value beyond that simple phrase. This photo to me depicts HOPE and RESILIENCE. HOPE for the future as exemplified by this little tyke as he begins to walk in his own. RESILIENCE as exemplified by this elderly Continue reading

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A Perfect Christmas Activity

December 25, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

It’s midday on a Tuesday. CNN is playing softly in the background as I routinely empty the dishwasher – ruminating over my present state of aloneness.    How much longer until I see my kids? Tickle and hug my grandkids? As I separate clean knives and forks and drop them into the slotted drawers, my Continue reading

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Incidentally, Iris

For the past ten years, Iris’s “Incidentally Iris” column has appeared in The American Israelite, a weekly newspaper for Cincinnati’s Jewish community and the American Jewish community. Founded as The Israelite on July 15,1854, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the paper today is the oldest English-Jewish weekly in America and the second oldest in the world. (The London Jewish Chronicle was founded in 1841.) Read Incidentally, Iris columns on The American Israelite
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