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Rose Madeline Mula writes: As a writer, email has been a special boon to me. In the predigital age, when I wanted to submit an article to publishers, I had to take my typed originals to Staples or Kinko's to make copies and snail mail them to editors, along with return-addressed stamped envelopes. Expensive! Slow! Today I have no copying costs, no postage, no gas costs or waiting for mail responses. I can now receive rejections cheaply and quickly. Oh, wait! That's not good! more »

As fears of an Ebola outbreak rise, federal agencies are taking steps to protect and inform the public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is taking the lead on most aspects of the effort — issuing containment guidelines to hospitals and other health workers, training airport personnel on screening methods, and creating uniform lab tests to diagnose the deadly disease. But as in all public health emergencies, state and local public health departments are the nation’s first line of defense. more »

Built in 1877, the Whitney Studio originally served as a carriage house until its conversion in 1907 to a studio and private salon for sculptor and arts patron, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. As the eldest daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Whitney was well-known for stepping out of her society role to create art and advocate for fellow American artists, including John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, and Joseph Stella, to name a few. more »

It was the kind of day that helps a person breathe deeper, to set aside whatever might be on your mind, if only for a brief time. But that respite is truly a treasure in our frenetic world. And all it took was a short ride and the willingness to look deeper into what seemed like nothing special. I hadn't realized that hummingbirds were so territorial, chasing away other birds, even hummers, with their aggressiveness. These little beings were not easily intimidated. more »