Going to physical therapy reminds me of the nail salon. The manicure clients don’t look at each other and prefer to gaze into space, pore through a People magazine, or stare at the TV mounted high on the wall. At physical therapy, it’s much the same, except for the magazines. There is no TV and … Read more
This week, three longtime friends and I met for breakfast at a newish café. We’ve been getting together for at least twenty-five years – no one remembers exactly how long – and I guess you might say we’re “set in our ways.” But things have begun to change. For many years, we got together at … Read more
I’m just back from a week in Ireland. The brogue is still in my ears, and this morning’s gentle rain and greening lawns remind me of the island I left yesterday. I’m in that jet-lagged head-space, neither here nor there and moving around in a kind of daze. With that in mind, I’ll share a … Read more
This is the week in the year when I feel most in-between. Thanksgiving and Christmas are over and a New Year waits in the wings. I feel like the director of a play in which I hold back the actors for just another moment. Not yet, it’s not quite time, we’re not ready, please wait. … Read more
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” – Psalm 23:6 This beautiful phrase from the Bible comes near the end of the prayer that begins: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” When it popped into my mind today, I thought it was “justice and mercy,” but on … Read more
photo by Eric Duvauchelle at unsplash.com Since the recent presidential election, I have struggled for words. Today’s calendar has unlocked me, bringing back the feelings I had on this date in 1963 after the assassination of President Kennedy. I am angry. I am sad. I am shocked. I have read columns and blogs and Facebook … Read more
“I want that wall,” she says, and my back arches like a cat’s. I know exactly what she is talking about, and it’s not a Pink Floyd album. A leading Presidential candidate wants to erect a wall to keep out immigrants and my petite blond massage therapist likes the idea. She leads the now … Read more
The Lost Landscape: A Writer’s Coming of Age by Joyce Carol Oates My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not a big fan of her fiction, but I teach and write memoir, so I picked this one up and am I glad I did! Though when I got to the chapter written by her pet chicken, … Read more
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler My rating: 5 of 5 stars Told from the point of view of a woman who was raised alongside a chimpanzee, as an experiment, this novel raises big questions about human treatment of animals, especially in medical and psychological research. Karen Joy Fowler’s name has … Read more
Thought I’d bring this out again, because I still feel this way. Enjoy the day!