After quiet time yesterday, Katie found me scribbling in a notebook. With thoughts of the upcoming election rattling around in my head, inspired, somewhat, by responses to my last post, and goaded by an assignment I’d recently given to my students, I was eking out a sonnet. “Mama,” she said as she wedged herself into … Continue reading "We Break Things: In Which I Make Myself a Liar. Perhaps."
Read MoreAuthor: Jenn
On Poetry and Politics
This fall, I’m teaching Creative Writing to a couple of high school students. During our introductory class on poetry, one of the girls asked me to share some of my poems with them. I told her I didn’t write much poetry. She asked me why not, and my mind stuttered on the question. Why not, … Continue reading "On Poetry and Politics"
Read MoreWhat I Lose, What I Gain
This past weekend, Jonathan sent me away. That is, he booked three nights in a secluded cottage in the woods. He ordered meals for me from HelloFresh (which, by the way, is a genius way of feeding yourself in a vacation rental). He took Friday afternoon and all day Monday off, and gave me a … Continue reading "What I Lose, What I Gain"
Read MoreOn Road Construction and Political Conversation and Choosing to Listen
They’re tearing down trees. I can hear it through the window as I write: the steady drone of heavy equipment, the beep-beep-beep of a truck in reverse, the crashing and grinding of trunks and branches being stacked and chipped. The powers-that-be have decided our scenic rural highway is far too dangerous in its current state, … Continue reading "On Road Construction and Political Conversation and Choosing to Listen"
Read MoreToddler Steps and the End of the World
Things have an apocalyptic (in the world-ending sense of the word) feel to them these days. A massive explosion in Lebanon. Wildfires and rolling blackouts here at home. A derecho storm taking out swaths of the Midwest. Back-to-back hurricanes threatening the southern US. Shady governmental dealings in Belarus and Russia and China (okay, so, nothing … Continue reading "Toddler Steps and the End of the World"
Read MoreOn Sunflowers, Gratitude, and Joy
About a month ago, I bought sunflowers. Our local CSA had them on offer for $1 a stem, five-gallon buckets full of bright beauty, cut fresh that morning. I’m no home-decorator. Flowers aren’t my love language. I don’t fawn over bouquets. But they caught my eye when I picked up our veggies for the week, … Continue reading "On Sunflowers, Gratitude, and Joy"
Read MoreWhat I Can Control
Seven years ago, I became an armchair expert in adoption law. Our attorney gave us printed copies of the relevant California Supreme Court cases, dozens of pages of small-print legalese. I pored over them, highlighter in hand, noting similarities between those cases and ours. I constructed a meticulous timeline of events. I typed up a … Continue reading "What I Can Control"
Read MoreStories from Lockdown
Eight weeks ago, when the term “social distancing” was just beginning to infiltrate our national vocabulary, when the first wave of events was being cancelled out of an “abundance of caution,” when toilet paper memes were starting to make their way around social media, the two small girls of this house decided to play one … Continue reading "Stories from Lockdown"
Read MoreFinding Hope in the Fog
We woke to fog yesterday. As late as Sunday, the local Facebook weather guy was forecasting spring warmth for this week. Monday, he said, we’d see partly cloudy weather, but Tuesday would be the first of several dry and sunny days. He was wrong. A rarity, for him. The first half of this week was … Continue reading "Finding Hope in the Fog"
Read MoreHow to Use This Time Well
Confession: we have not done much that resembles “school” around here the last few days. This, despite the fact that we have nowhere to go, no place to be except home. This, despite the fact that we are used to this homeschooling gig and have not been thrust into it involuntarily like so many others. … Continue reading "How to Use This Time Well"
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