When I saw on Twitter on Tuesday night that the iconic writer Nora Ephron had passed away, I felt the sort of panic you feel when someone you know in real life is in trouble. Though I’d met Nora Ephron several times in the past few years at parties, I could hardly say I knew her. Yet through her books and articles, which I’d read throughout my 20s, I felt not only like I really knew her but like she was a guardian angel figure in my life, an older aunt or a mom’s best friend who was always there with quick wit and common sense. Moreso than other second-wave women I admire — Gloria Steinem, Toni Morrison, Jane Fonda, Joan Baez — I would ask myself in moments of career crisis, What did Nora Ephron do when she went through this same thing? Like me, Nora Ephron had feminist sensibilities, but didn’t run in strict feminist circles. Like me, she was ambitious and talented, but wanted a family life, too. And most importantly, like me, she’d worked as a newspaper reporter, but really blossomed writing about herself. Keep reading »
