lindawis This past weekend, I got to open a window and peek into other people’s lives. For the memoir workshop I taught at the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference, attendees submitted pieces a few weeks in advance for critique. And as always, the stories were heartfelt, moving and inspiring. A little black girl and her family traveled through … Read more
This Six Sentence Sunday post is an excerpt from my memoir, Off Kilter, published in 2008 by Pearlsong Press. “I wish I could draw in your mind a picture of that place, exactly as it was, warmly lit by a clear sunlight making sharp shadows on a concrete sidewalk. Beside the sidewalk, up to its … Read more
I was at Staples making copies of handouts for my memoir class, when I saw something so chillingly off kilter, I can’t get it out of my mind. Someone had left a copy on the machine. It was an invitation to a child’s birthday party. A party for little boys. A boot camp party. The … Read more
The first known use of “off kilter,” says merriam-webster.com, was in 1944, just two years before I was born, to describe the state of furniture and other structures. The definition is “not in perfect balance. A bit askew.” Synonyms are bizarre, eccentric, unconventional, far-out, and kooky (also kookie) as well as the British “rum.” As … Read more
Rediscovering the Old Country My journey to peace with my Polish heritage. This story was published in the November 2010 issue of In the Fray, an online magazine that promotes global understanding. When I was growing up in a Polish neighborhood in upstate New York, I wasn’t so interested in the Old Country. My grandparents … Read more
I just had to touch these headscarves on sale in Warsaw. I’d seen them many years before, in the Polish neighborhood in Amsterdam, New York. Old ladies wore them to church. I fondled them in Warsaw and Gdansk and in the touristy market in Zakopane. Nostalgically, regretfully. I wrote one of these scarves onto Regina’s … Read more
Well, not quite, but the Peter, Paul and Mary song, Leavin’ On a Jet Plane, is running through my head this week. We have our plane tickets. The weather in Poland will be in the 70s during the day and sunny, and in the 50s at night (and dark, as George Carlin might say.) The … Read more
In my never ending quest to find balance in my Off Kilter life, I discovered a wonderful book. Quite by accident. Or seredipity. Or maybe it was just meant to be. In February, I traveled to a women lifewriters conference in Austin, TX and entered a silent auction for a book by a writer I … Read more
Last week, I attended a lecture given by Ron Daise in Murrell’s Inlet, SC, about his book on his West African roots. A native South Carolinian, Daise traveled to Ghana to reconnect with his Gullah heritage. He told us of his feelings as he saw people with his nose, his eyes, his smile, all around … Read more
The name on the paper was Regina Wrozkowna. She was the earliest ancestor in my family tree, researched by my cousin’s daughter who lives in Switzerland. That summer afternoon at a family reunion in upstate New York, the kitchen smelled of baked ziti, kielbasa, strong coffee and sugary cake frosting. I’d been out of touch … Read more