Ann Anderson Evans

Abortion in Austria

In the 1920s there was a severe housing shortage in Vienna, and when my friend Mariella’s parents got married, they could find no place to live. So they moved in with the husband’s mother, who specified that while they could live with her, but there could be no children. The new wife got pregnant, andContinue reading “Abortion in Austria”

Technology update

The rules of romance are changing and our moral compasses are inching this way and that in order to accommodate these changes. In another 50 years, the world will be a different place. I am hoping that within the next decade or so technology will be easier to manage as well. We’ll begin with sortingContinue reading “Technology update”

Teenagers Dating in Austria

The sexual landscape in Austria is interesting. It seems quite typical of several European countries, but I have recently had the opportunity to hear about that particular country on an extended visit there. Birth control supplies are discounted for young people up to the age of 21, then they become more expensive. Yes, teenagers getContinue reading “Teenagers Dating in Austria”

My North Carolina, and Why I Am Not Surprised

The guiding principle is to emphasize the positive, but today I am not inclined to do so, because that would not reflect my experience. Every once in a while you have to move past “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I am not surprised by what is happeningContinue reading “My North Carolina, and Why I Am Not Surprised”

Tragedy all around

Yoga evens you out and strengthens you, but more importantly, meditation (which simply means sitting there and breathing) invites strength and balance to deal with tragedy and pessimism. So what is the pessimism of the day? Global warming, which threatens our very existence, the unexpected accidental death of an extraordinary person you know, the massContinue reading “Tragedy all around”

Being Poor

According to Charles Blow’s article in The New York Times this morning ,“…the No. 1 reason people gave for our continuing poverty crisis was: ‘Too much welfare that prevents initiative.’” I’ll bet you never thought I had come close to welfare, with my two M.A.’s, a couple of successful careers, multilingual, well traveled. Some peopleContinue reading “Being Poor”

Babies without daddies

My doctor is pregnant. She’s a thin, elegant dermatologist who went through a bitter divorce and custody battle that lasted long after her separation from her husband. She had seemed strung out over the whole thing, and I was surprised to find her pregnant again. It turns out that she is the third of myContinue reading “Babies without daddies”

Report from Austria: Cruising the Danube

Our always generous Viennese friend rented a boat to cruise the Danube for a day. A former colleague of his, an ex-bank president now in retirement who is licensed “to go around the world if I wanted,” piloted it. There were six adults and five children, and each of the children except the 2-year-old gotContinue reading “Report from Austria: Cruising the Danube”

Report from Austria: The Cloud

I brought a box of soap to my Austrian friends as a hospitality gift. It was found in a drawer in my aunt’s house, which I have recently cleared out after her move into an assisted living facility. The box is of fine black, durable, shiny cardboard, is about a foot long and a fewContinue reading “Report from Austria: The Cloud”

News & Book Reviews — Page 28