Carla Merolla Odell
Personalized Portraiture
Private Client Blog I’ve seen his byline several times over the years. Let’s call him “J,” which is fitting, since his first name begins with a “J.” I met J at my first magazine job on the 29th floor of the Time-Life Building. A month out of college, I was an...
A Woman's Place Blog So a few weeks ago, when I was asked at work to write a sort of last-minute blog for our organization, my pulse quickened, my forehead glistened (I prefer “glisten” to the word “sweat”) and my belly went barrrummmmp. That’s because I got stressed....
A Woman's Place Blog “You know, he was Jewish.” This was a family-famous refrain spoken by my grandmother, my Jewish grandmother, over the many years I was fortunate enough to have a grandmother in my life. Now, my Jewish grandmother, Jeanette, practiced Conservative...
A Woman's Place Blog Every year, around this time, Grandma Jeanette and Grandpa Izzy would park their Lincoln Continental in our driveway and climb the steps of our house with a big bag, which they parked in the corner of our living room. My parents, brothers and I...
A Woman's Place Blog Home during my freshman year in college, my mother called to me from the guest bathroom I was using. “What?” I said, as I rounded the corner and saw her holding my plastic dial-a-day pill dispenser. “You’re on birth control?” What followed...
A Woman's Place Blog The sky was a little gray when I set out on my very first by-myself walk to the center of town. There would be streets to cross, and I’d practiced long how to look both ways. My memory insists this was the summer before I turned 8, and in those...
A Woman's Place Blog I love my husband. I promised him, always, that before I voiced any complaints, I would start by saying, “I love you,” slowly and meaningfully. And then (usually with a smile), “Do you think you could get the socks into the hamper instead...
If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you might remember a piece or two about my being a lap-swimmer. My swimming “career” did not have an easy start: “Woof woof,” my fellow summer-campers would tease as they were mastering freestyle and I was still doing the doggy-paddle.