What was the worst job you ever had? The clean-up crew had their radios tuned to the local station from 6 p.m. until we heard the call to report. We listened for the familiar jingle (“From the valley of the … Read More
We have many specific descriptive words in the English language. Poetry slams are not for the faint of heart. When I started writing again, I attended poetry slams. I introduced myself as representing the Medicare Division. I was older than … Read More
And Cartwheel for Love. The ice on the Mississippi cracks creating holes and floes. Around La Crosse, Wisconsin, the Mississippi is a braided river, with many islands and back channels and sloughs. The large trees along the river are bare … Read More
We need family rituals — along with crazy uncles and reactive cousins Maintaining family relationships does not happen automatically. It takes the work of “kinkeeping,” the small tasks and large events that reassert we are family. My 2-year-old grandchild has … Read More
We can model resilience in uncertainty. The whiplash just keeps coming. Covid. Climate Change. Local Disasters. Global Instability. Riots. War. Those of us with lived experience — we who are older — have both the opportunity and responsibility to model … Read More
Longer adult friendships with parents are new, generationally. I never had a Grandma and Grandpa that matched the storybook pictures. When I was a grandkid in the 1960s, the average lifespan was the late 60’s. Both grandfathers had died before … Read More
In memoriam for the doctor who walked with the poor. Paul Farmer died this week and deserves a public eulogy in many spaces. He was a hero in global healthcare and we need to hold up our heroes. This week … Read More
I tossed an entire drawer full of pantyhose. I don’t know when that red-letter day was — This Is The Last Day I Wear Pantyhose — but it was some time four years ago when I still went to an … Read More
Smell evokes a time and place. In my childhood church, there was a pew known as Widow’s Row. It was the third pew from the front, right-hand side, and you sat there only by invitation. The row reeked of cologne, … Read More
No Time to Spare is a collection of her blogs I laughed out loud while reading Ursula Le Guin’s No Time to Spare (2017), her last book collected from her blogs. She started blogging in her 80’s, inspired by another mature writer. I … Read More