Inner Artist What a delight to happen upon at the local library Julia Cameron's Vein of Gold, a spinoff of her very popular (cultish?) Artist's Way. Cameron is an artistic descendant of one of my writing heroes, Brenda Ueland; what Brenda was writing decades earlier, Cameron expands and enhances with accessible -- and even fun!… Continue reading Breaking Through: Winter Discoveries for Creativity and Healing
Damned Scribbling Women
To the Editors: Ross Douthat’s Sunday piece, “The Church and the Abortion Capital,” was so rife with assumptions and logical fallacies that I began to wonder if you had run it specifically in order to discredit his argument. In perhaps the most astounding passage, he writes, “New York State still has millions of baptized Catholics,… Continue reading Damned Scribbling Women
Submission
We went to a wedding this weekend. The priest started off strong. “The Bible tells us that a husband should love his wife as Christ loved the church. There are many different kinds of love, but here, we are not talking about romantic love, as our modern sensibilities might think of marital love," he explained.… Continue reading Submission
Susie’s SouthForty Toffee: Christmas Disaster Averted
"This is the best dessert I've ever had," my husband declared. "You have to take it away from me." Hide it somewhere, he told me. Somewhere I won't find it. Otherwise I'll eat the whole thing. Over the next few days it became a game of sorts: I would find a hiding place, he would… Continue reading Susie’s SouthForty Toffee: Christmas Disaster Averted
Kerala: A South Indian Lesson on Loving My In-Laws
In the second half of October, I took a break from crawling around in the dark cave of sexual assault stories to write on a lighter topic: in-laws! In the process I was delighted to discover the Wanderful community, whose mission is to build an inclusive network of women and non-binary people to help each other… Continue reading Kerala: A South Indian Lesson on Loving My In-Laws
Brett Kavanaugh Reminds Me of College. God Help Us All.
Last week, I finally looked him up. It’s not as if I’d blocked it out all these years, but this time around, the memory was hitting me differently. I guess even given the resonance of the allegations, I wasn’t prepared for the triggering familiarity of Kavanaugh's tone. It didn’t take long to locate him on… Continue reading Brett Kavanaugh Reminds Me of College. God Help Us All.
Love endureth all things
My daughter and I thought we were just stopping by 12 Baskets to drop off some food for lunch, but when we arrived we learned that a wedding was about to begin. We had to stay. (For background on 12 Baskets see my post "No Ordinary Watermelon") Shannon, 12 Baskets' founder, was poised to officiate in… Continue reading Love endureth all things
Mistaken Ivy
Dear Karen, Remember when we went for that walk in the woods last week, and you asked if that patch of vines was poison ivy, and I told you very confidently that they were not? Well, Christopher just told me that they were. Are. And here I've been, wondering where those little stripes of it… Continue reading Mistaken Ivy
Should
I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I should I… Continue reading Should
Flat Tire Karma
Yesterday, dropping off a food delivery at 12 Baskets, a young man I recognized from meals there approached me and asked if I had a tire jack. I didn’t think so, I said. You have a flat? Yeah, and I have to somehow get to the tire place. Where’s the tire place, I asked, thinking… Continue reading Flat Tire Karma
