Dealing With My Own Sh–
I’d like to keep this a family friendly blog, but what else should I call it? Feces? Excrement? Waste? Poo? They all sound too distant, clinical or childish. It’s so easy to refer to it in euphemisms when clean water washes it far away, into rivers, oceans, or sewage treatment plants. But when you have to figure out how to deal with it yourself, it turns to shit….
My WordPress Odyssey: Finding Help
No. 2 in a series: My WordPress Odyssey Last week, I explained my foolish reluctance to commit to WordPress. Once I had pledged to work through the issues, I realized I needed professional help to get started. I visited a local, independent bookstore (I hope you’ll do the same). We’re lucky in Portland to [...]
Introducing “Species of the Week”
I grew up an introverted, only child. With my cat or rabbit stretched out beside me, I spent many evenings curled up in some cozy corner, thumbing through animal books…
Publication
The Gettysburg Review, Spring 2009 Flu has laid me low for the last few days. But getting the Spring 2009 edition of The Gettysburg Review cheered me. It includes “Natural Births” — a chapter from the book I’m working to finish. This is my first piece of literary nonfiction in print (I’ve had a [...]
Making Bread
For many years, I followed Laurel’s Kitchen to make bread. I loved most of her recipes and her ethic of wholesome, healthy food. But her methods for bread stumped me. I kneaded and kneaded and kneaded some more and still ended up with bread that never rose well, tasted like cardboard – that is [...]
Books
Over the last year, these books stand out for pulling me away from writing and inspiring me to return to it with fresh ideas and renewed passion. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto [...]
