Magical Memoir Moments
Around the World in 80 Days: Reflections on Recent Travels
Pittsburgh: Saturday morning. Post-Starbucks and pre-wedding planning day with Kate and Nik, Anthony and Chelsea, Ila and Neal.In a mellow, grateful, Thanksgiving Weekend mood. It occurred to me, as I was returning from my third trip to NYC last week, that perhaps I have been around the world (24, 901 miles) in the last 80…
Michael Moore's Own Life–Does it Undermine His Message?
Capitalism: A Love Story opened nationwide yesterday, and Stuart and I made the movie our Friday night date. If you have not seen this film yet, I encourage you to do so. Of course, I was watching and listening with a memoir lens. In this film we see pictures and home movies of little Michael…
So How ’bout that Toast?: A Mini-Memoir
Our son Anthony and our new daughter-in-law Chelsea were married September 12 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Manhattan. It’s time to share more of the story that has been unfolding here since they announced their engagement. I described the synchronicity in their meeting–their origin story involving Forrest Church and Match.com here. And…
Memoir Poems: A New Family Tradition
The wedding countdown is on! Anthony and Chelsea not only have their own website, like many couples these days, but both of them are bloggers. Anthony uses his blog mostly as a “digital home” for networking in social media, although he announced his engagement there, including the playlist of music and the menu.He also loves…
The Harvest Time of Life: A Mini-Memoir
Last Sunday, Stuart and I celebrated the last day of August with one of our many bike rides in the hill/woods/lake country here in southwestern Michigan. We have enjoyed watching the grape vines become green, then produce fruit, and soon we will get to observe the harvest. Next Tuesday another sign of the season arrives–all…
The Year of Magical Thinking: A Memoir to Read and Reread
When Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne dropped dead on December 30, 2003, he was in the middle of a speaking a sentence in their living room. She was mixing a salad for their dinner. As I write these words, Stuart and I are about to sit down to eat the dinner the two of…
Eight Tips for a Great "Staycation": A Mini-Memoir
You know that feeling you get at the end of an exotic vacation to Disney World or New York City or Istanbul? Or the feeling in August that summer is slipping through your fingers? A feeling akin to nausea? You wish you had time now to organize your pictures, mow the yard, sit on the…
My First Rock Concert: A Mini-Memoir
Rock music is like a foreign language to me even though I graduated from high school in 1966 and college in 1970. Like many explanations of my most anomalous behaviors, this one goes back to being Mennonite. And a little geeky (meaning bookish–not a math whiz!) on top of that. I like to joke that…
Our Neighborhood: A Twenty-First Century Community
The poet Gary Snyder once said, “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.” Stuart and I found a place called Stratford Woods four years ago, dug in (literally) with the first new house in a 22-lot development, and looked for an opportunity to help build community. The picture above…
You Can Go Home Again–A Mini-Memoir
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, likes to call itself the Garden Spot of the World. If you travel to Lancaster in the springtime, you understand. The greens penetrate deeper than the human eye can see, and the earth, well, it’s as soft and receptive as any coquette and more fertile than a hutch full of rabbits. I…