Sit on a rock to write your feels and watch the seagulls shit all over one of humanity’s greatest achievements. The coastline is coated in thick algae, reminding you of how we are poisoning all of our major waterways. The constant wind will ensure you never relax...

Our first Jewish family decision came when it was time for the bris. The idea of having a bunch of people over while I could barely walk without pain seemed terrible and I couldn’t believe I agreed to it. We could’ve had his circumcision done in a medical facility while I was still doped up on painkillers.

My North Beach landlady once walked through our apartment, looked around and said, “You know there are decorating classes you can take.”

San Francisco is a city of compromise. When it comes to housing, for example, unless you’re part of the ultra-wealthy, you’ll have to give something up. The longer you live here, the more you accept this as our way of life.

Even the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and the snowball fights in Central Park couldn’t satisfy me as much as that $500 plane ticket home.

The Transfăgărășan Road is the most famous road in Romania... I was standing somewhere near the bottom, staring at a closed sign.

I stared at the two flights of Muni-station stairs in front of me in dismay. The elevator was out. My infant son wailed because I was taking too long. No one stopped to offer help.

Before my son was born, I knew that my husband wanted to name him Michael, after his own late father. But there were two reasons I fended this off.

If you saw him walking down the street, you’d know he was a tourist. But after 12 years of visits, my Midwestern dad is getting harder and harder to entertain.

I’ve recently read a few articles urging people, particularly moms, to remember that social media is not real life...This exhortation is usually followed by some hilarious and poignant example of how that mom did some parenting thing that was not perfect.