It was early morning, but I’d eaten some chocolate late in the afternoon, so I was awake. Attempting lemonade from insomniac lemon, I tuned into On Being, and listened to Krista Tippett interviewing Paul Muldoon here, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet, and poetry editor of The New Yorker. Near the end of the interview, when asked, … Continue reading Tiny steps…
The other day at a holiday gathering, I had a conversation with a pretty pink-haired and old-fashioned hatted 18 year old just home for the holidays after her first college semester away. I’ll call her Martine. We were talking about life and relationships, and how all that’s going. I loved that she was so open … Continue reading A Holiday Conversation…
I was dying of silence. Not really silence. More like clamor, inside and out. A rushing forth of sounds, word losing ground in sensibility, as time, when moving forward like all things, time and words begin to accumulate into one big rucksack full of time-bomb-ticking-un-said-ness. I had heard a lot. Judgements until I should have … Continue reading Pushing myself a little further…
Part One: Highway 101 South… As soon as I lost my radio signal for NPR, somewhere around Gilroy, I started listening to an audiobook of Terry Gross interviewing more than a dozen well-known writers. My favorites were David Rakoff, David Sedaris, and James Baldwin. Rakoff and Sedaris brilliant and funny. Baldwin not funny, but, brilliant. Since … Continue reading Thanksgiving road trip in 3 parts…
Making funny faces was discouraged. My brother made them anyway. I didn’t, though my unhappiness leaked out all the same. Maybe making faces is something pro-active boys do. A kind of rebellion at being photographed, or perhaps an experiment with what one can do while being photographed. In any case, not towing the line. Not … Continue reading What’s Agency Got To Do With It?
Karen’s dad… A lot of people have been dying lately. I know. A lot of people are always dying. I’ve been interested in the subject of … Continue reading A Lot of People Have Been Dying Lately
An hour before heading to the Red Poppy to hear a poetry/music slam, my friend Anita and I strolled along 24th street, seeking dinner. We were tentatively headed to the Roosevelt Tamale Parlor, but willing to be waylaid if we found something we liked sooner. That waylaying place turned out to be El Nuevo Frutilandia. … Continue reading memory lane aka 24th street in the Mission, & a short restaurant review…
(I wrote this before I went to France two months ago. I don’t always agree with myself a day or two, or three months later, but this time I do. I totally agree with what I wrote then.) My friend Jurgen was visiting one morning recently with his 3 year old daughter Eva. While Eva … Continue reading Vinegars…
My Air France flight 0084 landed at SFO with a bumping thud, reminding me of the tremendous weight (the airbus A380 is ginormous —one million, two hundred thousand pounds) of plane carrying over 400 passengers, reminding me to wonder how we ever got off the ground in the first place. I was relieved and happy … Continue reading Bumpy Landing…
A short post on On Being left me feeling inspired and reflective. It was titled “An Antidote for Longing”. Here. The title alone, perfect. I love Maia Terrell’s exploring the paradox of “a deep sense of connection and disconnection all at once”. The On Being post was mostly Maia’s reflection on being a wanderer, and … Continue reading My dream job…
Gayle Markow: As I am... 