The political is personal: week 6 of the COVID-19 social isolation, 2020, random day’s log
Yesterday between other political, domestic, family, and minimal self-care tasks* I was on two really good zoom calls. One was essentially about the importance of data-driven political organizing and education and the critical youth vote and one was about pretty much the same thing, and how to help good candidates get their message out and […]
The “wine mom centrist” speaks (the 2020 primary election sucks)
Since people are sharing their stories of supporting Elizabeth Warren while not being “elite,” here’s mine. I think I’m inspired because some rando “socialist” bro just referred to me as a “wine mom centrist” on Twitter, and I have lost IQ points just writing those words. I have supported a couple of different candidates in […]
LLAP
A few days ago, beloved actor Leonard Nimoy passed away at age 83 after being ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Internet was awash in memories and sadness. I was busy all day but noticed the outpouring on social media. He meant a lot to me, as he did to many science fiction loving […]
Feet and the maiden
Some years I am so weighted down and distracted by my workaday life that I have a hard time locating some authentic, profound feelings of gratitude around the holidays. This year, the news helped me locate some of these sentiments. Happy Thanksgiving, readers. As I slipped on my shoes and left the house the other […]
The Unpleasant Pensieve
This morning as I was having breakfast down in the yellow and blue kitchen here at Ragdale House, a place that calms me like an idealized version of the kitchen in my childhood home in Wisconsin, I had a conversation with the Ragdale housekeeper, R. In a mixture of English and Spanish, I learned that […]
Some Places Where I Used To Live
(Yes, the title is a lame reference to the Gotye song of last year, Somebody That I Used to Know.) This year I’ve had the opportunity to visit two cities where I used to live. Last month I visited Boston when I attended the AWP conference. And right now I’m at an artists’ residency just […]
The Designated Celebrant: Confessions of a Holiday Hater
December 18, 2012: It’s a week before Christmas. Since we’re a mixed religion family and Hanukkah has passed, my kids have opened most of their holiday booty from my husband and me and the rest of the family. I tried to remain neutral about the holidays, waiting with no fixed expectations for joy, peace, wonder, […]
(Poverty) is like a box of chocolates
When I was in the grocery store last week, I saw these fancy chocolates. They are delicious, as I know from personal experience. But I could not bring myself to buy any, even “just for guests” or “for the kids,” two of my usual excuses for buying extraneous treats. The taste of these candies is […]
Finding Grateful
I feel a very unusual sensation — if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. -Benjamin Disraeli When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. -Willie Nelson According to some of my Facebook friends, November is an unofficial month of gratitude, where each day a participating person is supposed […]
Book learning for girls
Last week a 14-year-old Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban. Her crimes, labeled “activism” by the monsters who tried to kill her and her female classmates, appears to be attending school and encouraging other girls to become educated. This week, in my home state of Wisconsin, a man […]
