31Jul

Welcome to My Mid-Life Blog Crisis

midlifeblogcrisis

Well, if you've been paying attention to my streams as of late, you might have noticed some serious changes taking place. In the course of six months, I changed the name of this blog to The Culture Tripper, changed it back to The Culture Mom, started a new site The Holly Chronicles which I've since shelved and done some irreversible damage to my social media channels. What was my reason for my midlife blog crisis? The reason? Couldn't really tell you other than the fact that I must have had a mid-life crisis and taken it out on the Internet! In all Read More

06Jul

A Reunion of Holocaust Survivors from the Lodz Ghetto

Salomea Kape

A few weeks ago, I had an extraordinary experience that I feel I have neglected to tell. I have been hesitant to tell this story for a few reasons. For one thing, I haven't been sure of the outlet in which to feature it. I have wondered if the Culture Mom is the right venue for a story of such an important, historical nature. I often write about plays I see, trips I see, my children. Is this the right forum for such a story? Well, to answer that question, this blog is anything that I want it to be, so I have to say it is. For another thing, I didn't Read More

18May

Where You Can Find Me

where you can find me

As you can tell, I've been sitting quietly here waiting for my site to be fully redesigned. I hope you're sticking around! But I have been writing. In case you can't find my work, I wanted to point out some of my recent work: Yahoo Travel Best of Broadway Bound Kid Friendly Theater Ciao Bambino Cruising on the MSC Divina, The Family Perspective She Speaks Bring Back the Nigerian School Girls Bloggers Standing Beside Each Other in Support of Amanda Henson Wheelin' Weightloss: A Facebook Page with a Mission Hillary Clinton: Read More

30Apr

Ch…Ch….Changes are Coming!

changes

  Sorry for the change of name and silence this week. Let me explain what happened. I've been talking about rebranding for quite a while. I started another new blog in the process (TheHollyChronicles) but have since realized that this site is more important. Eager to change the name, I finally came up with a good fit: THE CULTURE TRIPPER. After months of hemming and hawing, I told my designer to make the change while I was recently out of town...on a cruise ship! When I saw the changeover while sailing the seas, I freaked out. It's no one's Read More

13Apr

Blog Hopping: Why I Write

Write what you love

I have always loved to write. I thrived in Honors English Classes in high school, writing short stories and poetry and was on the editorial team of the school newspaper. I went on to major in Journalism in college and spent some time in the CNN newsroom before moving to NYC to work in television programming and production. Eventually, I ended up working in publishing where my writing skills really came into play. But it wasn't until I started blogging that I truly captured my journalistic spirit, returning to my roots in writing. From travel to culture Read More

30Mar

A 1980s Film Binge Fest on Netflix

pretty in pink

I'm a child of the 1980s and the pop culture from that time period stands out in my memory and will forever more.  I loved the music, TV shows and the movies...ahhh, the movies. Films back then were kind of ground-breaking. They delved into topics of teenage-dom and adulthood that had never been touched on. Some were hits and we all saw them over and over. Some just wasted away into oblivion and returned as cult favorites many years later. I've spent the last few months pulling some out of my memory's list and have been re-watching them with my Read More

21Mar

How NOT to Pitch a Blogger

How NOT to Pitch a Blogger

The amount of pitches that land in my inbox is often overwhelming and...wrong.  I don’t mean to complain. I am grateful that I am even considered by publicists in my 4th year of blogging and when the right one lands at my fingertips, I am thrilled. I know when I get a pitch that is right for me. It’s generally when I can tell my blog has been sought out for a reason, usually because the person at the other end of the pitch understands my niche and knows what works here on The Culture Mom or beyond in my freelance writing world. I have written about Read More

20Feb

Something New

something new

A few weeks ago I wrote about my need to rebrand, to venture into a new space. I struggled with the name, with my new identity, for at least a year. I wanted my new blog to focus on my key interests and who I am. I asked for assistance right here, and several of you gave me your opinion and I appreciated it. After much thinking - too much - I started thinking about my favorite films, TV shows and plays, hoping something would trigger a name. And it did. My favorite play is called The Heidi Chronicles by my favorite playwright, Wendy Wasserstein. Read More

13Feb

Talkin’ About a Revolution: The Mary Tyler Moore Show

mary tyler moore show

I grew up in the 1970s and clearly remember watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show with my mom and two sisters.  I was really young when it aired, but even then I knew it was revolutionary. Mary and the rest of the cast had us all paying attention to a show about a single female news producer living and working in a male dominated world. What was amazing was that it was made during the height of the blossoming of women’s rights. How they did that is a story worth telling, and Jennifer Keishin Armstrong has skillfully done just that in her new book Mary and Read More

29Jan

Time to Rebrand and a Vote for a New Name

rebranding

If you've been reading this blog since its inception in 2010, first of all, thank you. You also might also know that I've been itching to rebrand for some time.  As much a part of the mom market as I am, I am also a part of the travel and entertainment markets. As a writer, I want to expand my horizons and it's ready to move on. Well, sort of, I've actually had an amazing mock-up in my inbox for a few weeks but I have one issue.  The name. The one that I chose, the one that I finally came up after months of soul-searching, doesn't suit me. It doesn't Read More