Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Argument You Don’t Hear About Birth Control in Schools

This is my TIME.com column today on the furor over Plan B in the New York City Schools.  (But before I even begin, I just have to remind everyone that Plan B is not, and never has been, an abortifacient!): … Continue reading

Posted in Children/Teens/Young Adults, Erika @ TIME.com, Public Policy, Women-related | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The Cain Effect

  Remember the study that showed that the smart and well prepared students actually felt less confident about their test results than the dim bulbs who thought they’d aced the test? Well, it’s called the Dunning-Kruger effect and, to quote my … Continue reading

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Dummkopf Chronicles

A trip down nostalgia lane: One summer when  I was about ten, my parents rented a house for us on the ocean in Annisquam MA. Every day for a month, my older sister and I watched our little brothers and … Continue reading

Posted in My story, Women-related | Tagged | 5 Comments

Unnerving Comparison of the Day

I try to avoid making comparisons to others; I just end up feeling bad about myself a lot of the time, and it’s so rarely a rewarding enterprise. To wit: this newly discovered monkey seems a lot more thoughtful and … Continue reading

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Reports of the End of Men Are Greatly Exaggerated

Here’s today’s TIME.com column I co-authored with my husband, Nicholas Christakis. Is It Really the End of Men? There are downsides to pitting the sexes in a constant, one-up, one-down battle for supremacy. It’s a story as old as Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, the … Continue reading

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The Unfathomable ‘Why’ of Suicide

I have been struggling all weekend to understand what unknowable forces compel a young person so full of vitality and joy – and I do believe it is a compulsion – to take his own life. I know about immature … Continue reading

Posted in Children/Teens/Young Adults, Harvard-related, My story | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

In Memory of a Young Friend

The greatest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. -Thornton Wilder I am grateful for the life of Cote Laramie: kind and gentle friend, talented musician and scholar, an aspiring healer, all around beautiful soul. I wish he … Continue reading

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Being Honest About Lying (At Harvard and Everywhere Else)

My TIME.com column today on Harvard’s cheating investigation. Co-authored with my husband, Nicholas Christakis: Harvard‘s announcement last week of an investigation into a case of widespread cheating offered a little thrill of schadenfreude for some: confirmation, perhaps, that a venerable … Continue reading

Posted in Children/Teens/Young Adults, Erika @ TIME.com, Harvard-related | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Misplaced Gender Sensitivity

                      Apparently, these are real Amazon reviews. Enjoy! 1. Via: amazon.co.uk 2. Via: amazon.co.uk 3. Via: amazon.co.uk 4. Via: amazon.co.uk 5. Via: amazon.co.uk 6. Via: amazon.co.uk 7. Via: amazon.co.uk 8. Via: amazon.co.uk 9. Via: amazon.co.uk 10. Via: amazon.co.uk 11.

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