Writing
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Truth Meltdown
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e. the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e. the standards… Continue reading
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Aglow 9/22/18
This weekend, Spark and Spitfire introduces a new regular weekend post called AGLOW, which will feature a poem that has had meaning for me — and perhaps for you, too. Peace to all. A GIFT by Denise Levertov Just when you seem to… Continue reading
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F-Bomb
Yesterday, David Ignatius, the award-winning columnist for the Washington Post published an editorial about Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear: Trump in the White House. Entitled, “What a Baby,” Ignatius’s editorial shares his opinion about the book and how: Woodward’s recounting of… Continue reading
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Ignite 9/7/18
The night before last, I overheard on cable news the term, “primeval fear.” Not “primal fear,” but “primeval fear.” The reference, as you might guess, was to the current occupant of the Oval Office. I hadn’t heard the word, “primeval”… Continue reading
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Ignite 8/17/18
Who’s the person NOT on Facebook, but still remembers your birthday? That’s right — grandma! Grandmothers keep us happy (and fed) . . . and in the case of this week’s cartoons . . . laughing. Continue reading
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Magic Horse
Yesterday I imagined walking into the lobby of the Bread Loaf Inn in the Green Mountains near Middleburg, Vermont to register as a general contributor at the 2018 Bread Loaf Writers Conference. I imagined quickly signing up for the workshops… Continue reading
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One-Note Draft
What is memoir? What isn’t memoir? Sometimes (and in my case, more often than not), the memoirist can’t tell until she steps back and reads the words she’s written. As most of you know, I’ve been working on a memoir… Continue reading
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Feed Your Head — Part Two
“The theater, when it is potent enough to deserve its ancestry, is always dangerous. That is why it is instinctively feared by people who do not want change, but only preservation of the status quo.” For 28 years, the plays… Continue reading
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My Willow Oak
Early yesterday morning, I heard a thundering thud . . . so loud, it scared my cat, Jem, and drove me outside my front door. Had accumulated snow melted and slipped from a tall building? Impossible, it was July. Had… Continue reading
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Sisters Showing Up
“We are each other’s reference point at our turning points.” This quote from Elizabeth Fishel’s book, Sisters: Shared Histories, Lifelong Ties — a compilation of more than 150 interviews and questionnaires with more than 150 women — describes what my… Continue reading
