Once upon a time there was a little girl who was afraid of almost everything: bugs that flew, caterpillars that crawled, lightning that flashed, winds that blew, dogs that barked, rumors of robbers, sirens that screamed in the night, vegetables that looked unfamiliar, people that spoke with difficult accents. In tears she often ran to […]
Did you ever wonder about where our one-hundred billion dollar prison industry had its beginnings, and why it so disproportionally confines people of color? For starters, look no further than the Thirteenth Amendment to The Constitution of the United States. Go ahead. Look it up on Google. Read the whole Amendment. I’ll wait here while […]
The coronavirus pandemic has sent journalists, medical personnel, and politicians scrambling to their thesauruses (thesauri?) for synonyms often found in monastic lexicons. We’ve been advised to remain “sequestered,” “isolated,” “withdrawn,” “secluded,” “disengaged,” and even “cloistered.” It’s the phrase “locked down” that reminds me of the monastics of the Middle Ages who were called anchorites. An […]
“Hmm…” was the clue for 6-Across in a recent L.A. Times Sunday crossword puzzle. 6-Across had seven squares, so I filled in “IWONDER.” Which sent me down a rabbit hole of several things I’ve been wondering about lately, in this time of pandemic and quarantine. I wonder if the companies that make the brass fittings […]
“Statues” was a game we kids played during recess on the playground. One kid (usually a girl, a bossy “Lucy” type) got to control the action; the rest of us would dance and whirl and act crazy until she shouted “Freeze!” and we’d all stop in mid-action. Whoever wobbled first from their “statue” […]
A stoic does not express emotion. A stoic family is mostly expressionless. I was reared in a stoic household: Germanic (on Mom’s side – she referred back only as far as “Pennsylvania Dutch,” because she liked their folk art) and Welsh (on Dad’s side – traced back to the 15th century and Sir Rhys […]
Last week I had one of the most memorable meals of my life. Out of curiosity I’ve searched back through my memory files, and found just a few other such memorable repasts: – A wiener roast on the top of a high snow-covered dune (we called it “Mt. Everest”) on the southern shore of […]
This month, when acquaintances and clerks and baristas asked, “Are you doing anything special for the holidays?” I replied, “I’m doing nothing.” If they assumed that that was a sad, or lonesome, or irreligious state, I might add, “I love being in the dark time of year, and I don’t want to lose a moment […]
Last week my son Michael came to Whidbey Island for a weeklong visit. It was the first extended just-you-and-me time we’d had in years, and we determined to make the most of it. One of the highlights of our time together had us laughing so hard for so long that I thought we might have […]
A month ago I went away for a week to do nothing but write poetry. I went prepared, taking with me my poetry “sketchbooks” (ideas for new poems), and potential poetry drafts that I hadn’t nurtured in years, and a few pretty good poems that just needed their “final” polish (note: for a poet, no […]