Ms. Merriwether Answers Questions on Writing, Life

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Considering the Bar, Low or High. Dear Ms. Merriwether, I have enjoyed writing on the internet, but it has always been my dream to be a Published Author, which means printing a novel or anthology in book form. Preferably, The … Read More

When Do We Age/Edge into Disability?

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Denying when we need help is not helping I wear hearing aids. Am I disabled? I was disabled when I had foot surgery and my foot was in a cast for 8 weeks. I used a knee scooter and had … Read More

Oregon Outback, Creativity and Science

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The intersection of time and space in the Playa Photo by Jake Weirick on Unsplash I drove to eastern Oregon through hours of sage bush, despairing at my decision to attend a writer’s workshop in this godforsaken place. Rifts of … Read More

Mourning Doves and Life Lessons

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Freighted Meaning and Hunting Targets A pair of mourning doves eat the seeds underneath my feeder. Although I rotate the bird feeder on a pole, the squirrels’ acrobatics get the seeds to fall. It serves them, but also the birds who … Read More

True Believers and Misled Passion

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Persistence and incrementalism get us further in life and work “I believe counts, right now, for more than “the evidence shows…” Belief based on emotion is dangerous. We need to be humble. The world can make us so. Passion is … Read More

Lavender Festivals, Oregon

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The scent and taste wafting in the air. My favorite lavender festival was last weekend, and a friend and I made our annual trek to the fields and hills of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Pictures of the mounded purple … Read More

The Roiling of the Supreme Court — Looking Back and Forward

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Impeach Chief Justice Earl Warren Earl Warren is now regarded as one of the great Supreme Court leaders of the twentieth century. He was not a shrewd constitutional lawyer, but he was a politician who could straddle both sides of … Read More

Ms. Merriwether’s Advice to Writers on Life

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The questions and answers we all seek, vol. 2 Dear Ms. Merriwether, I am stymied by boxes of archived writing and other ephemera I have acquired. Ever since I retired, which is, alas, five years ago, I vowed to sort … Read More

Ms. Merriwether’s Advice Column, Vol. 1

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Answers to questions on life and writing Dear Gentle Reader, Ms. Merriwether (c’est Moi) is opening an advice column for all your questions about life and writing, or the writing life. I will select several questions from the comments section … Read More

The Seasonal Succession of Berries

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Raspberries Ripen in July, Love Follows I was in my son’s garden this afternoon, picking raspberries. I picked berries when I was little in my father’s garden at the end of our yard, and that’s how friends have remembered me … Read More