Magical Memoir Moments
Three Things Every Grandparent Learns Again and Every Wise Parent Knows
Today’s post was going to be about children and memoir storytelling. I had it all set up like this: The post would be the third in a series of how my grandchildren are my spiritual teachers. The first post (2011) was about learning attention and proprioception (awareness of the body) from a baby. The second…
57 Varieties of Wisdom: Sooner or Later, We All Quote Our Mothers (and Fathers)
As I intimated in my last post, the response to my Facebook query asking for examples of sayings from parents was amazing. Fifty-seven responses in all, counting multiple entries and conversations about entries. Then my Facebook friend Linda Hoye posted a Mary Englebreit painting featuring these words: “Sooner or Later, We All Quote Our Mothers.”…
Helen Alderfer, Poet, Mother, Wise Woman, Role Model
My husband Stuart gave me a book for Christmas I did not know existed–a pleasant surprise indeed. Helen Alderfer, an early woman leader in the Mennonite Church and someone I have long admired, has published a book in her 90th year. I have always loved reading about people who keep achieving their dreams well into…
A New Earth and the Quest for the Essential Self
Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose was a runaway bestseller earlier this year, due in large part to the enthusiastic embrace Oprah Winfrey gave it on her show and in the ten-week internet classes she conducted with Tolle beginning in March, 2008. The book sold 3.5 million copies in the first…
Contests and Memoir
I have always enjoyed biography, autobiography, and the personal essay, but my study of memoir as a subject is only two years old. It started when I saw a 2007 literary contest announcement in the local newspaper, The Kalamazoo Gazette. The three categories were poetry, short story and memoir. That choice was easy, since my…