What is the shape of this story in your mind? Is it a longer arc, one that unfolds over many years or decades? Is it more of a self-contained episode? Something in between? How would you describe your emotions right now as you think about beginning to tell this story? Briefly and without thinking too… Continue reading Project Wellspring: Questions for Reflection
I still don't really go in for astrology, but if there was ever an embodiment of a Gemini, my sweet almost-9-year-old is it. As a baby, changing Priya's onesie could take her from a placid snuggle bunny to screaming as if she'd been stung by a trio of bees in under 30 seconds. Nowadays, it's… Continue reading My Family, Part II: Deconstructed Birthday Cake
(Inspired by Julia Shiplett's recent New York Times piece, "Reasons I May Be Eating Right Now"): It makes me feel guilty. It makes me feel superior. I judge them for being overweight. I am afraid of becoming overweight. I judge myself for being afraid of becoming overweight. I think health and nutrition are obvious and… Continue reading Please Don’t Tell Me About Your Diet. Here’s Why.
Saturdays generally unfold like this: In the late spring moving toward summer, I might wake up at 7:00, Priya (age 9) maybe around 7:30, and Lily, our younger, another half-hour to an hour later. (For Christmas I bought Lily a pajama shirt that says, "If you love me, let me sleep.") We are happy and… Continue reading My Family, Part I: Food Coloring Lipstick
The writer Sark asks, what would you say if you wrote a letter to the world? My post questioning polarization could be one version of a letter to the world. But this is the sentiment that came to me unbidden when I revisited Sark's 1998 Bodacious Book of Succulence this week. Dear World, I am… Continue reading Dear World
“This guy is just really passionate about melons," one of the lunch guests told me. "It’s all he talks about. And you think, how can you care so much about melons? But he just has this thing about bringing so much joy to others – through melon – and when you hear him talk about… Continue reading No Ordinary Watermelon
I believe we are not as divided as we're being told we are. I believe that many of us want the same things: for our nation, and for the children of our nation. I believe that we want our kids to be safe at school. I believe that we want a government that makes prosperity… Continue reading This I Believe: Polarization (?)
When I moved into my first apartment, my grandma presented me with a full complement of kitchen equipment that she had painstakingly collected at Goodwill and other thrift shops for years preceding. And then, she did the same for each of my three younger sisters in succession. Nearly twenty years later, I'm still using the… Continue reading A Letter to my Grandma, or, Why I Heart Food Network
Here is a list of some of the things I didn't do because they might cut into my freedom to work out, or things that I did do, but then fretted that they required sitting still for too long: singing in a choir evening classes trivia nights regular church attendance traveling and volunteering in the… Continue reading Body Politic II: Why I had to gain 10 pounds to finally become a writer
Over my career in schools, Anne Lamott's words on writing in Bird by Bird have helped to shape a wider philosophy. Both in the classroom with students and with colleagues refining their teaching, I strive to create a particular atmosphere, that of holding a space for exploration, for vulnerability, a place to try things out so… Continue reading Teaching Philosophy
