Abby Diaz
The Forecaster
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Past articles by Abby:
Abby's Road: A conversation about black and white
One summer evening, the camp I attended assembled its teenage girls for an Olympics of sorts. We were divided into our units of cabins, and challenged to send up the girl who best satisfied quite random categories of characteristics or capabilities. From the entire pool of nearly one hundr... → Read More
Abby's Road: Serena Williams aces the part of role model
Dear Serena, A few months ago, my daughter asked my husband and me why women are not allowed to be president of the United States. She was 6 at the time. We responded with a question of our own: What in the world led her to that conclusion? Her answer was matter-of-fact: We had just... → Read More
Abby's Road: A little advice for the Class of 2015
To those of you graduating from high school this spring, here is some advice: When Maureen Stapleton won an Oscar in 1982, she immortalized her acceptance speech by stating that she wanted to thank everyone she’d ever met in her entire life. You should do that now. Thank every... → Read More
Abby's Road: Embracing an unbalanced life
We talk about work-life balance as if it’s that simple. As if we only need to consider work on one hand, and life on the other, to divide our time and energy into proper and equal portions. As if life can be summed up in one word. What happens if one day, I victoriously unplug from m... → Read More
Abby's Road: This is how the birthday cake crumbles
Thanks to a recent birthday, I am now closer to 40 than to 30. I joked with people that I was actually turning twenty-something. I don’t like getting older. I do like birthdays, though. I now recognize them as historical reference points. They are the signposts by which I can chart m... → Read More
Abby's Road: Hoping to be 'grounded in gratitude'
I can't stand whining. The substance of it, and the sound of it, are like nails on a chalkboard. Sometimes it feels as though I am stuck in a classroom surrounded by itchy fiends in need of a manicure. My children do not lead overly luxurious lives. They can, however, walk into a ki... → Read More
Abby's Road: How to make Easter eggcellent
I spent my childhood attending Sunday school. I studied at a Jesuit university with a chapel in the very center of campus. As I nibbled on wafers, confessed my sins, and fought to play Mary in the Christmas pageant, I learned there’s a lot of pressure on Easter. Easter is the celebra... → Read More
Abby's Road: Live like the end is always near
What do we do with the time we have left? That question has provoked great thinkers across religions, cultures and epochs. It also inspired an essay by Paul Kalanithi, a Stanford neurosurgeon writing for his institution’s medical magazine, the Stanford Medicine. On March 9, Ka... → Read More
Abby's Road: I need a good haircut
Humorist Fran Lebowitz once said that you’re only as good as your last haircut. I agree with her. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a good haircut. Lebowitz and I share a common philosophy as well as a common enemy. Each of us has hair whose natural inclination is... → Read More
Abby's Road: Diagnosing a winter psychosis
The sixth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders should include the following criteria to assist mental health professionals identify a New Englander suffering from winter: • Arrogance. The descent into winter is marked by cockiness. Red flags include a p... → Read More
Abby's Road: Not drowning is a major accomplishment
When a person’s performance is characterized as treading water, it’s not meant as a compliment. To be treading water suggests a lack of motivation or capacity for forward progress. It implies stagnation, maybe even laziness. We learn to crawl so that we can learn to walk... → Read More
Abby's Road: The 12th football speaks
I am the 9.16 percent. I am the Edward Snowden of the pigskin community. I am the 12th football. This is my first public statement. Jan. 18, 2015, started like any other Sunday between preseason and postseason. I awoke in my gunmetal cage to the sounds of Vince Wilfork tap-dancing. ... → Read More
Abby's Road: The colors of friendship
The first song I remember learning is the one about making new friends, but keeping the old, one being silver and the other gold. I now appreciate the song’s intent with a depth unavailable to me in preschool. I would add another verse with more colors of the rainbow, though. ... → Read More
Abby's Road: If it's good enough for Barbara Walters ...
Barbara Walters annually hosts a television special about her “10 Most Fascinating People.” A woman recently told me she reads my column before she reads the Police Beat. So move over, Babs. There’s not enough room at the top of the journalism heap for both of us. Here in... → Read More
Abby's Road: My hope for happiness
She ran with a soft smile on her face, her footfalls quiet, her toes pointed. Every third step, she leaped off the ground, raising her hands above her head and extending her fingers with a dancer’s grace. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, her cadence seemed to be putting her i... → Read More
Abby's Road: Injustice in the name of justice
Last week, we learned that a grand jury found no probable cause to charge Officer Darren Wilson with a crime for his role in a fatal shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. Then we learned that Ray Rice was immediately eligible to return to the NFL, months after he had been indefinitely suspended ... → Read More
Abby's Road: Worry is as worry does
As talents go, the ability to imagine the worst probably ranks somewhere above posting a selfie, but decidedly below walking without tripping. Fine. Sprinkle those grains of salt on top of the following: If BuzzFeed ever publishes a list of the top 17 worry-warts who live in a state that u... → Read More
Abby's Road: Life is a risk worth taking
My grandfather joked that the person who would most enjoy a funeral is the deceased. He insisted that the unabashed commemoration of life offered decent consolation for the fact of death. My sisters and I dutifully laughed through our eye-rolling and shushing. In late October, I att... → Read More
Abby's Road: The ratings are in: Ebola wins, we lose
As authorities confirmed that a second nurse had contracted Ebola, I was boarding a flight to Dallas. Work meetings would have me there for two days and two nights. Media reports would have me wondering if I would soon be obliged to self-quarantine. During a layover in Atlanta, I decided t... → Read More
Abby's Road: The young family and the sea
Bobbing on the gentle waves of Casco Bay, we quietly willed the situation not to deteriorate. We were riding in a borrowed, eight-person motorboat. We had spent the morning cruising the coast. We were passing Diamond Cove and aiming for home and nap time. Out of the corner of my eye... → Read More