Psychobiography, haunting, and women’s mags The best opening paragraph in writing is often agreed to be from Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle: “”My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister … Read More
The biggest river by volume is named for warrior women The Amazon Book Store Collective in Minneapolis was run by women, featuring books for women. I dropped into the store on occasion and browsed the selection. A good coffee shop … Read More
Unless you need critical care, opt for hospital-at-home The Great Human Flood, I thought, as I leaned back in the chair of the emergency department waiting room. I probably looked like them — disheveled, dressed in sweats or thrown-together clothes, … Read More
Belafonte funded the Civil Rights Movement The phone rang and my friend answered it. The call was from Harry Belafonte, and though my friend rarely interrupted our time together to take a phone call, Harry was an exception. My friend … Read More
When the machines take over It’s dinner time. I can tell, because my phone starts ringing incessantly. With wrong numbers from Door Dash. I figured out a month ago that Door Dash had listed my private cell phone number, mistakenly, … Read More
The pressure of making each minute count Retirement is great. I took a nap yesterday afternoon, which will not be strange to many of you. But I feel like the countdown clock is running. None of us know how many … Read More
Power and aging, vulnerability and wisdom I liked power. I still like it, I just don’t have many venues. When I was working, I managed small health and human service organizations (under 50 employees), and then I managed up to 250 … Read More
Her books have never been out of print Elizabeth Custer leaned against the window of the train rolling over the prairies east of Bismarck, Dakota Territory. She watched the dust and trailing herd of buffalo moving across the horizon. She … Read More
For any nattering nabobs of negativity… The public reading was unrelentingly grim. Very good writing, perhaps, but the two readers’ subject matters were child abuse, death, and an apocalyptic view of global warming. They should have served cyanide-laced Kool-Aid at … Read More
The social media for dinosaurs I am announcing a new social media site called Pterodactyl. It’s for the dinosaurs among us who wish our words could fly. I am a technology dinosaur. If you can remember your password, this site is … Read More