My selfie, myself
I recently finished reading the excellent, heartbreaking memoir Autobiography of a Face by the late Lucy Grealy, which made me ponder what role a face plays in one’s identity. A Twitter friend (who I actually know in real life — a wonderful poet) the other day referred to “selfies” (that is, self-portraits, particularly taken with […]
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 […]
The house of the opposite of mirth
I’m just back from spring break vacation with my kids. As usual, it took nearly the entire trip (five days) to relax. But we had fun and much needed bonding time, free from the usual soundtrack to our familial relationships — do your homework; brush your teeth; brush your teeth NOW; hang up your swim […]
Hybrid holidays
If you read my blog regularly, you know that this year, and every year at the holidays, I’m rather morose, joyless, and ungrateful. I feel guilty about it, which only makes things worse. Now that the holidays are over, I think I can diagnose some of what ails me. This is hard to write, but […]
Facebooking your freak out
Facebook is amazing. And awful. We all know that. I’ve been on Facebook for about four years, and I credit being connected to various people from all times in my life to feeling better about sad times, like when I announce that I’m sad as I observe the death anniversary of my father or […]
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, […]
After the Newtown, Connecticut, Shooting
After Several Days of Rain Crisp December, just before noon Billowy white clouds defy gravity As wet red maple leaves whip windows and each other. A man with little red riding hood on his back Smiles at me, his George Clooney face mouths a small ‘thank you’ As I stop the car so he can […]
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 […]
Letter to my fairly recent self
It’s the most glorious time of the year in Minnesota, the cusp of autumn, with bright, still-long days, a warm but no longer humid breeze in the air with the green smell of trees and flowers still in bloom. My family and I are visiting my brother and his family — his wife, toddler, newborn, […]
The Three Amigos (Ghosts of Christmas Past)
Way back in August 2012, I posted a link here to a Tumblr that no longer exists for the book Dancing at the Shame Prom. Here is the post. It’s about one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. (There were others. TK.) December 25, 1986 I was 17 years old and had […]
