Kayt Sukel

A case for aging like a normal person (xojane.com - 15 December 2011)

Why I'm avoiding Botox--and the notion that I have an expiration date.

Excerpt:

The first hint that people thought I had an "expiration date" (a visible, indelible mark on my person, saying how much time I had left to be a potential romantic partner or plain old-fashioned piece of ass) came a few days after my divorce was finalized.  

 

I was chatting with a friend when he congratulated me on my newly single status and, predictably, asked about my love life.  Well, what he actually said was that I better be collecting as many headboard notches as humanly possible.

 

I laughed, of course. But instead of playing along, I just went with the truth.  

 

“To be honest, I haven’t thought much about it,” I replied.  “There’s so much going on here right now that dating is pretty low on my list of priorities.”

(To read the rest of the essay, click here).

Updating Facebook status, to divorced (The New York Times At War Blog - 22 November 2011)

For the New York Times' At War blog, I wrote a piece about military divorce.

Excerpt:

Soon after I married my Army officer husband, an acquaintance gave me a photocopied page of an old-school military spouse handbook as a lark. As part and parcel of being a “good” military spouse, it entreated new spouses to have at least two pairs of white gloves on hand at all times as well as a well-stocked stationery box. The first was deemed necessary to make the best possible impression on all the higher-ups a wife might meet as her husband made his ascent through the ranks.The second, of course, was recommended to help the new spouse stay connected with friends and family as she started her wonderful new adventure as a soldier’s rock and helpmeet...

(To read the rest of the post, click here).

 

 

Hearts and Minds (Houston Chronicle City Brights Blog)

I am now contributing a new weekly blog to the  Houston Chronicle City Brights collection:  Hearts and Minds. 

In it, I discuss new findings in life, love and science.  With the occasional personal story thrown in. 

Vitamin D found to influence more than 200 genes (The Dana Foundation Website - 1 December 2010)

A new study inks Vitamin D directly acts on over 200 genes and suggests the mechanism in which a lack of this hormone is linked to so many disease states.

Excerpt:

In the past few years, a deficiency in Vitamin D levels has been linked to a host of diseases from cardiovascular disease to cancer, but some scientists wondered if these associations were simply epidemiological artifact—a result of the analysis, not the substance. But researchers at the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics have now demonstrated that Vitamin D has direct influence on over 200 genes, including many implicated in disease. They published their results in the Aug. 24 issue of Genome Research...

(To read the rest of the article, click here).

Can the Army's new suicide prevention plan really work? (TheAtlantic.com - 29 July 2010)

Will the pervasive military culture allow the Army's new suicide prevention plan to work?

Excerpt:

The U.S. Army's Task Force on Suicide Prevention released a comprehensive report this morning, assessing the Army's now-acute suicide problem and outlining the leadership's plans to confront it. General Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, briefed Congress on its contents yesterday. Though some are calling the report a blueprint for suicide prevention, Colonel Christopher Philbrick, head of the Task Force under General Chiarelli, maintains it's just part of an ongoing process...

(To read the rest of the article, click here).

Military experts discuss the attack at Fort Hood (The Washington Post - 6 November 2009)

After the attacks at Fort Hood, the Washington Post reached out and asked if I'd give my point of view as a military spouse on what occurred for the Topic A section.

Excerpt:

As details about the shootings streamed across the Web, I noticed how the nature of the messages changed over time. Initially, some military friends lamented that they no longer felt safe on Army posts. But once Maj. Nidal Hasan was identified as the lone gunman, many focused on his name, rank and faith. The fear that had been so palpable diminished. Few of the messages were explicit -- one simply said, "A single shooter and a Muslim?!" But their meaning was clear -- that Hasan's Islamic faith explained what had previously been an unfathomable act of violence...

(To read the rest of the op-ed, click here).

Talking About the Problem (Literary Mama - 22 January 2007)

My Op-Ed on the lack of desire to discuss the efficacy (or lack thereof) of Megan's Law is now up on the Literary Mama website. 

Excerpt:

Not long ago, I was discussing the DaiShin WolfHawk case with some friends, most of whom, like me, are mothers of young children. All of them applauded Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania for removing Melissa and DaiShin’s child a mere 24 hours after he was born. They felt that the father’s 20-year-old rape conviction and presence on the sexual offender registry should preclude him from raising a child. And they had no issue about the County terminating the parental rights of the mother either, believing that just the fact she had willingly brought a child into the world with a sex offender made her automatically unfit. When I disagreed with them and stated that though I doubted the WolfHawks would be winning any “Parent of the Year” awards, I still felt that their basic rights had been violated, I was vehemently accused of not wanting to “protect the children.” I was stunned by the reaction...

(To read the rest of the Op-Ed, click here).