The recently-late Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929–June 26, 2020) notably said/wrote on his website, "The good is the enemy of the great....

I wrote this in early February, before Coronavirus changed Jury Duty with its potential jurors crowded in close quarters in one room. Now, ...

This is the 100th post of my self-imposed "100 Days of Leaving my Comfort Zone." Perhaps, more accurately, it's "100 Daz...

This post is both a question, "What's in a big name?" and a tribute to the power of relationships. First, the big name My ...

 This post combines a number of things: —honoring the passing of Elisabeth Sifton, brilliant and gifted editor and writer —noting how con...

It's amusingly predictable that when I can't sleep—because of many things to do in not enough time, ESPECIALLY planning for a class...

Passion. Such an overused word. Yet, the most successful people in any field bring passion to their work. Or, if they don't have passio...

The object of the game is to have 100 days of doing something that makes me uncomfortable and in a few cases, I have strayed beyond my comf...

Judge. Aide-de-camp. Extra. My paternal grandfather's name was Adjutor E. Tondreau. Grandpa used to joke that the "E" stood...

Today, December 30, 2019, Shams, who's in his coffee cart come wind, rain, heat or snow—and who's the father of five accomplished c...

My maternal grandmother's china is definitely not "me." The design of pastel-y flowers is very busy and very, well, grandmoth...

I don't eliminate anything lightly—especially gifts from family and loved ones. Almost superstitious about not keeping presents, howeve...

Criticism is hard. Rather, criticism is hard for me to do. Years ago, when I was sort of an elder-statesperson in the AIGA Mentoring Pro...

Often, I the fact I'm a strong follower as opposed to a strong leader, and that competent as I am, what I can say are great attributes ...

I like and admire Dr. Wayne Whitmore, my ophthalmologist—and am not surprised that he's highly-rated as one of the New York Times bes...

Ever since missing a flight years ago when I was an underpaid budding designer working in London who had to take inexpensive charter f...

It's a cliché to tell students—or anyone—to follow their passions. To someone who's comfortable being second, or taking the back ...

Mustapha—the partner and eventual husband of Ingrid Selberg, my decades-long friend from working in London—had a colorful life and a way of...

This post is more about planning than about design. In "doing my homework"—i.e. reading the Voter Guide, Your Nonpartisan guide...

Preparing for a trip to Europe, I vaguely thought about my friend, the artist   Marie Thurman, whom I hadn't heard from or seen for ye...

The idea of this auto-challenge is to make me leave my introverted, comfy world and do something different, but here I'm posting someth...

Such a cliche, but true. Being out of the routine means noticing things that you might normally ignore. In London, for instance, the WH Smi...

It's funny how something so cold and wet and nasty can also be cozy and like home. Even though it was decades—DECADES!—ago that I lived...

Flying anywhere, but especially overseas means that for a number of delicious hours, you're relieved of most tasks (especially if you...

I talk about how important teaching students at City Tech in Brooklyn is to me, and went on a vacation (planned prior to my appointment to ...

To complete projects/ads/brochures that seem small to me—except for their importance to my clients—and to prepare for the class I teach on ...

Years ago, while working on an anniversary book for the New York Pops, I met a woman who's confident, organized, delightful, sociable, ...

Getting nails done is unusual, if not exactly out of my comfort zone. A manny-peddy (mani-pedi?) doesn't really make the world a better...

My friend of many MANY decades, like us, was poised to mark a big birthday. His wife, my friend of many MANY decades planned a surprise par...

 My former "mentee" Arielle, her mother, her boyfriend, her grandmother, and her grandfather (sort of) are like family at this po...

I'm a bad and impatient shopper. So, after acknowledging that fiver-year-old bras are shaky foundations, I went to the Upper West Side ...

This seems to be my summer of being inspired by octogenarians such as Gloria Steinem, Joan Didion, and Jane Goodall. Although Jane Goodall ...

Going beyond my comfort level isn't always visual. In fact, most of the time it isn't visual. So, the action for September 19 consi...

The spouse and I are both pretty hopeless at planning vacations and booking spots. We procrastinate. We're not brilliant at finding goo...

Cokie Roberts * December 27, 1943–September 17, 2019 She was smart, a deep researcher and an engaging writer, and seemed to have a twink...

Prompted by dinner and great conversation about my late mother, my friend and moderator of our book group sent me a copy of a book   by a d...

We enjoyed a wedding on Saturday. I'd say we "attended" a wedding, but that verb seems way too passive for the tradition of h...

Pursuing the art of conversation after the ceremony at the gorgeous wedding of friends, I complimented a woman on her fabulous raspberry-co...

One the the most interesting challenges to me is learning about people. In short, a challenge is learning the art of conversation. How do y...

So many people have made eloquent posts and speeches and written eloquent elegies that my recollections of the day and the tragedy of 9.11 ...

Eighteen years ago. Surreal. But real. The four of us in the office of BTDnyc  on 9.11.01 were lucky. We were close to the turmoil and far ...