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 […]
Where is love’s home, exactly?
Here is a funny juxtaposition I saw on my recent visit to Philadelphia. On the left is a sign that I see elsewhere in America, including in my area of California. It says “hate has no home here” and is translated into several languages, with the American flag design in the shape of a heart. […]
Difficult conversations
Yesterday at a conference of grassroots progressive activists, I was listening to a panel of data experts discuss the preliminary analysis of who voted in the 2018 midterm elections. One of the guys presented an interesting data slice. He reported that (in a traditionally conservative area of California) among “independents” (meaning mostly conservatives who reject […]
Speak, MFA
There were so many blog posts* and other bits of writing I half-wrote in my head this year and the year before, as I went running in the morning or drove children to school or doctor or dentist appointments. Sometimes at times like that, my head is blissfully clear, and everything makes so much sense. […]
My Father’s Bones
A couple of weeks ago, Lea Thau, founder and producer of the KCRW radio storytelling show “Strangers” interviewed me. It was a remarkable experience, and I enjoyed talking with […]
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 […]
More tenderness
I’ve woefully neglected this blog, and I’m beyond feeling bad about it. There are reasons. Among them: 1) I’m writing other things. Okay, I’m not writing that much, but I’m thinking about writing other things. 2) I’m re-building my reading habit, which suffered grave injuries in college and graduate school (all those gigantic, dry as […]
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 […]
Cute little divining rods
An interesting thing has been happening to me when I’m out with my baby. This may have happened with my first two children, but honestly, it’s been over a decade, and I don’t remember. (I didn’t remember until today how tedious and Sisyphean quartering and peeling grapes for a baby is.) I’ve been encountering acquaintances […]
Supernatural: an intergenerational tale
Recently I found a link to audio from the first storytelling show that I participated in, the Spark Off Rose show from October 2010. The theme was “Supernatural,” and most of us told ghost stories of one kind or another. I read a story from the memoir manuscript I’ve been working on, about the few […]
