Judy Gruen

Take Your Dog to Work Day
Back in the days when gas was cheap and people drank tap water without fear, dogs might have grumbled, like Rodney Dangerfield, that they didn’t get any respect. They slept in dog beds on the floor, waited for someone to remember to toss them a bone now and then, and had names such as Fido or Pizza. More . . .

Bikinis - A Risk to National Security

Before Congress breaks for their summer recess, I hope they'll carve out a little time to outlaw the bikini. There are several reasons for this that should be obvious to everyone. First, the bikini creates a hostile sunning environment for women. More . . .

The Case of the Pathetic Pre-Passover Dinner
The wind-up pitch before Passover is both exciting and disturbing
to my family. Exciting, because due to our exuberant cleaning for
the holiday, emptying drawers, overturning mattresses, and in
general preparing the house for a visit by Better Homes &
Gardens, we find all kinds of things... More . . .

The Day I Become My Mother
Today, at precisely 2:17 p.m., while shopping with my teenaged
daughter, I became my mother. I had anticipated this moment, and
not surprisingly, it happened at an H&M outlet, whose hip and
trendy couture appeals to the too-young-to-buy-their-own-alcohol
set. More
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Laughter Yoga Is A Real Stretch
By now everyone in the world knows about the remarkable health
benefits of laughter. Hearty belly laughs release feel-good
endorphins, lower stress, and if you end up laughing so hard
More
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Rhapsody in Pink
Lakewood, New Jersey – I am visiting, for the very first time, this
fast-growing hub for young orthodox Jewish families. They are the
kind of Jews whom you might confuse with the Amish, since the men
of both tribes sport beards and black hats,More . .
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Bling
Went the Strings of My Heart
As our twentieth wedding anniversary approached, I became
misty-eyed, thinking of two decades of a life shared: the triumphs
and terrors of raising children, the romantic walks on the beach
that we take every four or five years, the family vacation when we
all got stomach flu, orthodontist bills that are greater than the
GNP of Moldavia, and the leaky roof that defies effective
patching.More
. . .

Love Means Really Having to Say
You're Sorry
If there were an Oscar category for the movie containing the
dumbest line ever, I'd vote for the 1970 hit Love Story, in which
actress Ali McGraw immortalized the phrase: "Love means never
having to say you're sorry."
More . . .

Empty Nest Syndrom
After 18 years of selfless love, all I get before my son leaves is
"Bye, Thanks"?! More . .
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My Husband's Midlife Crisis
When my husband realized he had forgotten to exercise in his 30s,
we were both in trouble More
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The Epidermis Epidemic

Where has all of our clothing gone? Health care policies are not the only places where people are suffering from
lack of coverage. Less discussed, but perhaps equally dangerous, is
the lack of coverage of clothing on people's bodies out in public.
I can't be the only one who has noticed that we have a raging
epidemic of revealed epidermis, but this problem of people being
scantily clad has received scant attention. More
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