I couldn’t wait to see Rachel Maddow when she came to Mt. Holyoke College this month. I was one of the first 100 people to reserve a ticket; a very modest $5 secured my place in general seating. She felt like an old friend coming home. Only Rachel didn’t know she was an old Read More
Blog and Newsletters
WHAT YOGA TEACHERS DO AFTER THE LAST NAMASTE
April 5, 2012
Yoga by lake Atitlan
Have you ever wondered what yoga teachers do after all the students leave class and the teachers are left in a great big studio? Well sometimes they become eight years old again and they play. One year at a writing and yoga retreat in Guatemala, I was Charles MacInerney’s yoga assistant. His inner Read More
Hachiko: A story of loyalty and devotion - Guest blog by Lesléa Newman
April 1, 2012
Lesléa with Nico, an Akita who looks very much like Hachiko.
Lesléa Newman is the author of 60 books including A Letter to Harvey Milk, Nobody's Mother, Hachiko Waits, Write from the Heart, The Boy Who Cried Fabulous, The Best Cat in the World, and Heather Has Two Mommies. She is a faculty mentor at Spalding University’s brief residency MFA in Writing program.
Sometimes, as my friend Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, likes to say, if a writer is very lucky, a story comes along and taps her on the shoulder.
On day I felt a tap and turned around. I saw a paw. A very large paw. It belonged to Hachiko, the most Read More
Sometimes, as my friend Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, likes to say, if a writer is very lucky, a story comes along and taps her on the shoulder.
On day I felt a tap and turned around. I saw a paw. A very large paw. It belonged to Hachiko, the most Read More
Sunday afternoon at the general store
March 12, 2012
The drum beat of my writing life, the members of the Great Darkness, read our hearts out at Elmer’s Store in Ashfield, Massachusetts. You never know if people will show up on a warm Sunday afternoon just to hear us read, but they did, in a crush of feel-good vibes. Most of us Read More
How Not to Write all Day
February 27, 2012
First, I read a small news article about dryer lint, in which a reporter tested a product that alleged to suck link out of inaccessible places in the dryer and how important this was because dryers catch on fire due to a build-up of lint. So I have a choice of writing, or going Read More
Pentre Ifan
February 9, 2012
The German translation of Now & Then has just been published, which is not a surprise to me since I knew it was coming. But the cover? Now that was a surprise. I was expecting the cover that I had seen about nine months ago. It had been a lovely cover that captured the magic Read More
Guest Blog by Donna Friess, Ph.D , The Magical Classroom: 6th Graders Who Won’t Leave and Two Big Dogs
February 6, 2012
“Foster” by Donna Friess
Donna L. Friess, PhD is an author, professor, life coach and a fan of service dogs that teach young children to read. She is my guest this month and I’m glad she’s here. Donna is also an artist, as you can see by the sensitive portrait of Foster the dog. Please check Read More
Funny Movies for Joey
January 22, 2012
I asked my friends on Facebook to name their funniest movies so that I could make a list and send it to a friend who is recovering from spinal surgery. I know I could find a list of comedies nicely compiled somewhere out there in internet land, but I wanted personal recommendations. And people Read More
Traveling in China
January 3, 2012
A day at the temple
Stay tuned for a travel essay about China. With a background in Anthropology and Psychology, my interests tend toward the social and micro-level. I'm fascinated that an entire country can conquer toilet training by age 12-18 months (although it's more complicated than that). And I never would have imagined the level of fashion that Read More
Hemingway Played Poker Here
November 27, 2011
Mint Bar in Sheridan, Wyoming
This is the Mint Bar in Sheridan, Wyoming. Hemingway had a hard time finishing “A Farewell to Arms” while he was in Wyoming. Local folklore says that Hemingway spent more than a few evenings in The Mint Bar playing poker until he finally headed up into the Bighorn Mountains and stopped procrastinating. Not that Read More