Tag Archives: adolescence

How I Grew Up, Eventually

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Abigail

Abbie at 10 on Prince. I never wanted to grow up. In fact, one of my childhood heroes was Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. For one thing, I thought grownups were ugly. They were too big, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, book reviews, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic politics, act like a woman, acting as if the dead can’t see you, adjusting to womanhood, adolescence, adult friendships, adults and children, antisemitism in academe, artificial adulthood, at home in one’s skin, becoming oneself, behind the back of the dead, believing defamatory fictions, Cain and Abel, cat’s away mice will play, childhood freedom, childhood heroes, collegial friendships, congenial social circles, CUNY faculty, daughterly duties, defamatory fictions, don’t speak ill of the dead, Downeast Maine, fight for popularity, fight for the legacy, filial piety, fitting into one's skin, fragile integrity, fratricide, go along to get along, growing pains, growing up, growing up and liking it, growing up and not liking it, grownup orphan, grownups, hard to fool, Henry M Rosenthal’s The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza’s Way, house in Maine, how children see adults, how not to greet a child, human nature and philosophy, identity development, ingratitude, inherited friendships, interesting parents, learned womanliness, losing friends, Maine locals, memorial service, midlife redefinition, novelistic, out of the mouths of babes, parental friends, personality redefinition, Peter Pan, philosophy as home, philosophy as natural, posthumous rivalries, put your money where your mouth is, Rav Tsair, real life is stranger than fiction, redefining self, remaining oneself, repositioning in adulthood, restoring oneself, romantic eligibility, saying what you see, showing true colors, sincerity of children, slander is always believed, small town realism, social standing, staying healthy in a fight, teenage dating, teenagers, the dead can see us, troubles of adolescence, unseen by the dead, unsupported groundless allegations, wallflowers, who am I?, world of one’s parents | Leave a comment

How A Woman Can Be Liberated

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Abigail

How A Woman Can Be Liberated When I started this column a few years ago, I vowed not to give advice. I even put that in our subtitle: “The Non-Advice Column.” So why am I about to give some? Well, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a child’s body, a woman’s appeal, adolescence, Advice, American boys, American courtship, anatomy isn’t destiny, biological clock, biological imperative, boys and girls, child’s flexibility, de Beauvoir and Sartre, debts to feminism, European courtship, existentialist feminism, experience as evidence, extreme skepticism, false consciousness, Feminism’s preconditions, Frederich Nietzsche, Freud and women, Freudian theories, gender boundaries, getting dates, girlhood to womanhood, giving advice, growing up, growing up and liking it, ideas and culture, identity as a choice, identity theory, intellectual curiosity, Jean-Paul Sartre’s freedom, Jean-Paul Sartre’s fundamental project, Karl Marx, living a lie, losing inhibitions, male agendas, male-authored theories, moral motivation, natural laws, on the shelf, opinion shapers, personal consciousness and power structure, philosophical feminism, philosophy and courtship, philosophy and eros, playmates, pleasing men, puberty, search for truth, seduction’s consequences, self as an illusion, self-invention, sexual identity claims, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, testing ideas, the for-itself, trendy thinking, truth and objectivity, truth claims, unfairness to women, women giving up, women’s narratives | Leave a comment

Time and Me

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Abigail

Time and Me When I was a little girl, I didn’t worry about Time at all. I pretended I was a deer and roved the forests. I pretended I was a boy raised by wolves and roamed the jungle. Back … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Childhood, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Existentialism, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, Identity, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Moral psychology, Mortality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged actualization and time, adolescence, adolescent boys, believing the unbelievable, book illustration, childhood’s end, coming of age, coquetry, coquetry in Europe, filling time, Flirting, flirting in America, future, getting your work done, growing pains, growing up in America, here today gone tomorrow, hypothetical and actual, imaginary worlds, intentionality, John Tenniel, knowing what’s real, knowing who one is, learning one’s purpose, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, life lessons, life regrets, life vocation, life’s work, Michelangelo, nostalgia, one’s calling, past, present, realization and time, running out of time, sufficient unto the day, teenage angst, temporality, the coming of reason, the lens of time, the real and the imaginary, Time, time and purpose, time flies, time of childhood, time’s wingéd chariot, to last and get your work done, wallflower, women friends, young girls in bloom | 2 Comments

My Identity Crisis

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Abigail

My Identity Crisis Our week in California, never an easy one — because much has always required attention there — was difficult in various ways but notably hard for me this time. First, the neuropathy treatments I get at Loma … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, Health, Heroes, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social construction, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", adolescence, anthropology, Ashley Wilkes, blood circulation, cause of neuropathy, difficult vacation, Dr. Mark Bussell, empirical outlook, evil defined, experimental treatment, good and evil, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust controversies, identity crisis, identity formation, Margaret Michell's "Gone With The Wind", moral illustrations, moral reflection, neuro-vascular system, neurologists, neuropathy, neuropathy diagnosis, Neuropathy Institute at Loma Linda, philosophic arguments, philosophic originality, political philosopher, reading romances, research hospital, Rhett and Scarlet, side effects, the good life, the Holocaust, The Jews | Leave a comment

“The Well of Time”

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Abigail

“The Well of Time” “Very deep is the well of the past.” So, in Joseph and His Brothers, Thomas Mann begins his monumental recreation of the Biblical Book of Genesis. In early adolescence, Mann’s Joseph was my favorite book, together … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Childhood, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged adolescence, adult conversation, alchemy, ancestors, autonomy, bad luck, biblical experience, biblical redactors, biblical time, bitterness, boredom, childhood, choice, convenant, creativity, evanescence, family life, feeling trapped, fleetingness, flux of time, fortune, freedom, God's time, good luck, grandfather, grownups and kids, Homer's Odyssey, kid's stuff, lottery of life, memory, no exit, pagan time, paganization, past and future, past present and future, personal authority, promising, remembrance, responsibility, restlessness, revelation, self-determination, sexual competition, sexual rivalry, social life, social position, social safety, The Bible, The Book of Genesis, The Joseph stories, The Old Testament, the specious present, Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, threats, Time, time and eternity, winners and losers, writers | 2 Comments

“Absolutely Normal”

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Abigail

“Absolutely Normal” We were in Riverside, California, a few years back. Jerry’s mother, my mother-in-law, was dying. She had always been extremely kind to me. And she was having a very hard time of it. It is hard to get … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Alienation, Autonomy, Contemplation, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, history of ideas, Identity, Jews, Love, Memoir, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, Uncategorized, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Conversions: A Philosophic Memoir", absolute and relative, absolutes, adolescence, adult friendship, celebrities, child development, cynicism, death and dying, dream visitation, editing, emotional cripples, explanatory hypotheses, filial piety, Freud, grief, heroic measures, hospice, Jewish essence, manuscripts, morality, normality, Oedipus complex, oxymorons, parent-child relations, parenting, personalities, posthumous publication, publication, trust, truth, writer's block | 4 Comments

“Peace”

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Abigail

“Peace” Peace! Who doesn’t want it? (Well, lots of people, apparently.) More to the present point: in what ways have I shown a preference for peace, and what’s the peace story for me now? When I was sixteen, I spent … Continue reading →

Posted in Action, Culture, Desire, Ethics, Evil, Femininity, Freedom, Guilt and Innocence, History, history of ideas, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, Peace, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman, War, Work | Tagged action, adolescence, adulthood, ashram, celibacy, celibate, Cherokee reservation, compassion, conflict, cruelty, Dorothy Day, dreams, end times, farm work, Fulbright, Gandhi, gangboys, History, impure thoughts, justice, kindness, meditation, mercy, North Carolina, outhouses, pacifism, pacifist, Paris, Peace, peace love and light, Picasso, poverty, promiscuity, purity, Quakers, rabbinic midrash, Smoky Mountains, social construction of reality, summer camp, The Catholic Worker, thought creates reality, vegetarian, violence, youth | Leave a comment

“Learning to Ride”

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Abigail

“Learning to Ride” Fran, my therapeutic riding teacher, told me today that – – slow and steady – – I am putting together the different pieces of a rider’s ride. By degrees, I am getting “stabilized” in holding the position … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Gender Balance, Hegel, History, Literature, Love, Male Power, Memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time | Tagged "Conversions: A Philosophic Memoir", adolescence, affinities, American teenagers, bescherte, Brooklyn, childhood make-believe, communist, companionship, coquetry, courtship, dating, dressage, earthiness, Flirting, gender roles, Gustave Flaubert, hamish, handicap, Hegel, identity, intellect, love, lovers, man/woman game, Marriage, Paris, partnerships, primitivity, providence, role models, Romance, sentimental education, spirituality, student demonstrations, the 60s, the counterculture, therapeutic riding, Yiddish | Leave a comment

“Fun”

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Abigail

“Fun” Whenever I really had fun, I hadn’t sought it and never called it that. What times am I thinking of? There was the time a select group of us young colleagues, who were fired for resisting the powers that … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Culture, Friendship, Literature, Philosophy, Political, Psychology, relationships, Social Conventions | Tagged academe, adolescence, artifice, awkward, childhood, colleagues, constraint, contrived, freedom, friendship, fun, Greek myth, high-school, horses, Les Halles, Marcel Proust, Paris, philosophy, Procrustes | Leave a comment

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