Blog Articles

By Diane Ripstein

Can We Agree to Disagree?

by Diane Ripstein • November 23, 2020

The Gloves Are Off Yikes, there’s a whole lot of disturbing rhetoric in the USA these weeks following the (never-ending) election. It seems whatever norms of civility and appropriateness we had are being shattered every day. It’s not enough that I don’t agree with you; I now consider you an unmentionable #$&%*! This Got Me [Read More…]


Sorry??

by Diane Ripstein • October 1, 2020

We Have Just Experienced the first Presidential Debate of this American election. Speaking as a communicator who puts a value on how words are used, it’s hard to know where to start, so I’ll just leave it there. This does, however, seem like a good time to pivot to my Canadian roots. It’s Become a [Read More…]


Jest Deeew the Waerrk!

by Diane Ripstein • August 27, 2020

Six Years Ago I was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland performing my one-woman show, Move on the Cha-Chas. If I had known what an overwhelming scene it was, I never would have had the courage to go. World’s Largest Arts Festival That summer, over 24,000 performers delivered 50,000 performances of 3200 different live [Read More…]


White Mama

by Diane Ripstein • June 17, 2020

All Mothers Were Summoned when George Floyd died, calling out for his Mama. I can’t write those words without crying. I am a proud White Mama of Black sons. Biracial sons, to be specific. And every day for the past 31 years, I have prayed that they be safe from violence. We All Have a [Read More…]


Just Pick Up the Phone

by Diane Ripstein • May 15, 2020

Nice to See You, But No disrespect, Zoom (Microsoft Teams, WebEx). I appreciate you and I’m using you as much as the next person. But you know what I miss? A phone call. Can We Keep It Simple? A long-time client and I were trying to figure out a time to catch-up. The date settled, [Read More…]


Is It a Doughnut or a Bagel?

by Diane Ripstein • April 15, 2020

Grateful To Be Healthy and now into my fifth week of self-isolating during this pandemic, I’ve enjoyed my share of Netflix, Amazon and HBO binging. But my eyes needed a break, so I turned away from my screens and towards my bookshelves. I Dug Out An Old Classic Originally published in 1989 (yes, the pages [Read More…]


See You On The Screens: Part II

by Diane Ripstein • March 27, 2020

Click below to watch this classic, A Conference Call in Real Life (3:25) and multiply it by many, many orders of magnitude. Our screens are now our daily life. Business conference calls and video meetings (not to mention virtual viewing parties, yoga classes, and cocktail gatherings) are all online. The Wheels of Commerce need to [Read More…]


See You On The Screens

by Diane Ripstein • March 20, 2020

Three Pillows Did you notice the pillow in the photo? About a decade ago, I purchased three of them, all exactly the same. One I am looking at in my office as I type this note to you, one lives in my sister’s meditation room in Toronto, and one lived on my late Mother’s living [Read More…]


I (Heart) You.

by Diane Ripstein • February 12, 2020

Hearts Are Ubiquitous And I don’t mean just because of Valentine’s day. Have you noticed how often hearts pop up in our emoji-laden, shorthand, pop culture? A Little Heart-Based Googling delivers a wondrous abundance of just how vital this organ is to our verbiage. At heart=basically. By heart=from memory. Heavy heart=sadness. Lose heart=discouraged. Big heart=generous. [Read More…]


Dry Spell!

by Diane Ripstein • January 15, 2020

Just Kidding This snowy photo is NOT current. It’s a view of the cars belonging to my condo neighbors and me, during a previous winter. Boston, Chicago, Toronto I have it on good authority (embedded family members) that each of these Northern cities, which one might consider winter cities, is totally dry today. Now we [Read More…]