My Kindergarten best friend was also my very first friend. We were so similarly timid that we didn’t mind that our conversations were brief bits that hinted at our equally isolated upbringing. Our zen-like circuit of a cobblestone walk was our practice place for future socializing. Visit Substack to read about my first rewarding peer […]
Posts in the Childhood category:
A Woman Who Desires More Writes a #Memoir
Hear me share a couple of childhood anecdotes from The Girl with the Black and Blue along with discussions of immigration and what values drive a woman to persevere on the road to pursuing her dreams. Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Fiona Citkin for her program, #TheBridgeforWomenWorldwide. (18-minute video) “I have […]
Frank McCourt was my Inspiration
About once a year, I do a Google search for Noah Adams’ NPR interview with Frank McCourt so I can hear McCourt’s lovely Irish voice and once again, be inspired. Why was is Frank McCourt my inspiration? Because it was after hearing NPR’s 2009 interview with Frank McCourt, that I knew I wanted to write my […]
The First Memoir I Ever Read…
The first memoir I ever read was Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. It caught my ear as I was waiting in the car while my husband popped into an auto parts store. We were parked at the intersection of Route 412 and Butterfield Coach Road in Springdale, Arkansas and the auto parts surely had something to […]
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
I haven’t posted in a while because here on the home front, beyond politics and Covid-19, I’ve been riding the roller coaster of Life. I’ve been hanging tight… It wouldn’t be Life if we didn’t have a few lessons to learn, right? I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new […]
On the Steamship Finland
“Babci! Can I have a cup of tea?” I skipped into the kitchen and plopped into a chair at the kitchen window. From upstairs, I had watched Dziadzia heading across the lawn to the barn where he would milk the cows.“Yah,” said Babci. She opened the upper cupboard for tea cups and tea bags, then […]
Unexpected Triggers
Yesterday, Janet brought me a freshly-picked bouquet of August blooms accented with curly-topped white phlox. They were just like the phlox that were as tall as I in the days when I ran barefoot in dewy cool green grass. I was 3 or 4 years old in that memory and my grandmother’s phlox border must […]
You CAN Go Home Again
It’s the time of year when most of us make the trek to the scene of our origins. It’s a return to where we grew up, or where the siblings that we’re still speaking to reside, or where our parents—if they’re alive— might still be hosting a neutral setting for others to come together. When […]
Writing the Nightmares
This morning I awakened at four, as is not uncommon for me. I rolled over and thought happy thoughts, took a few deep belly breathes and fell back asleep, only to reawaken two hours later with a vivid nightmare shaking me by the shoulders. Writing the Nightmares When I attended The Magic of Memoir conference […]
Sit With Us App
The Sit With Us app was announced yesterday, creating a subtle but ground-breaking way for lonely teens to connect in lunch rooms without calling attention to themselves. 16-year-old Natalie Hampton designed the Sit With Us smartphone application in response to the feelings that she experienced when she spent her entire 7th grade year eating lunch […]