I remember the exact moment it felt like everything in my life changed. It was like a strange shift. A falling through floors. As if destiny was reaching out urging me to take its hand. To be honest, that night was blurry as though I wasn’t in my right mind or had too much to…
It was an early December morning and I was hungover. I had far too much to drink the night before for someone who hardly ever drank. I remember walking outside to cool off and sitting in the snow. It seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Little did I know the next morning was going…
I first met Micheal Jason Allen when my daughter and I signed up to be extras on a movie set. My best friend Yousef Kazemi wrote and was directing a movie called The Stand-in. Follow its progress here. He was a well-dressed man (because we were in the wedding party) with a bowtie and a…
Please help me welcome Stephanie Musarra to #BeReal as she shares with us her experience with homelessness. It is easy to make assumptions about someone who is homeless because let’s face it… many of us have never been there. We tend to believe this is a problem we will never be faced with. But I…
I don’t remember the first time I thought, “man I wish I could be more…”. More classy, more beautiful, more funny, more smart, more stable, more serious. I’ve lost count of how often I wished I was less messy, less emotional, less sad, less weak, less random, less awkward. Seems I’m constantly wishing I had…
I got lost. One moment I was speed typing my thoughts across the page. My thoughts racing so fast I could barely keep up. I’d slap a corresponding picture up, type in a few tags and hit publish. Not once a day but several times a day. The next moment, two years later or maybe…
Dear daughter: You my love Are a woman And that means You will be told things Some will be true And many more will not The only thing You must do Is to find yourself Who are you? What you stand for? And know you are strong That you have options And when you don’t You get creative…
Please welcome Don Ortolano to #BeREALationships. Where did this relationship between brothers start? Well, actually, it started before my younger brother, Robert, was even born. I recall the day well, even though it is in many ways, an eternity ago. It was one of those beautiful, cool sunny days in New York and I was…
Please welcome Jennifer Ortolano to #BeREALationships. I have always had issues with feeling good enough, feeling worthy enough, and well, just feeling enough. It is important to note that none of my issues stems from my childhood. My childhood was as close to perfect as one could get. You see, I believe I was born…
