Have you ever done The Ring? Or considered it? You should. And not just because the Metropolitan Opera needs you. The Ring is mythic and epic, yes. But it's also about couples and families, parents and children, love and ambition and betrayal.

And then there's the actual process of experiencing it. You see the four epic Wagner operas in rapid succession (some of the operas are six hours long) and the net effect is that, while you're walking around Manhattan during the day, your head is in Valhalla. At least that's how it feels to me. Amy Fusseleman, editrix of Ohio Edit, ran my piece, "Gotterdammermom," about a Manhattan mother who thinks she's living in a Wagner opera....