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I have friends on Zoom meetings whose desks are in their craft rooms. I can’t take my eyes off the stacks of so many shades of folded cottons behind them on their shelves for piece quilts. Other friends have stashes of antique sewing and embroidery, yarn, paint, beads and gemstones. I keep a word and idea stash. For all of us these treasures we save present possibilities.
Read moreI have to admit that my walking shoes are ugly. When I look down, my feet look too big, too wide, and too long. In my mind I have three images of beautiful shoes and beautiful feet.
As a girl, in National Geographic, I saw lovely children and young women being carried because they couldn’t walk. Their feet, with broken bones, had been bound since infancy.
My mother had dyed-to-match pointed-toe high heels in the 1950’s to 1960’s. I thought she was beautiful, but her shoes that matched each outfit caused bunions and mis-shapen toes.
Now I see powerful women like Nancy Pelosi wearing stilletos. The narrow six to seven inch heels are sharp and dangerous if used as a weapon. Stilletos make women taller, lengthen their legs, emphasize their bust, and typically cost $700 for executives. Clearly they don’t have any wiggle room for toes.
The term “wiggle room” comes from the Depression Era in the 1930’s.
Read moreHow Would You Talk to A Fifth Grader About Not Going Back to School? Since the April 20, 1999 massacre at Columbine High, 279 students have been murdered in school. If you count the number enrolled in those target schools, 311,000 students have experienced gun violence. (The Washington Post). These have been called the Lockdown Generations.
A mother named Gal Beckerman has made this proposal in The Atlantic: “Today, I’m left with one conclusion: The children and parents of our country need to take the summer to organize locally, build a set of national demands, and then refuse to go back to school in the fall until Congress does something.”
Read morePrompt for a writing exercise: What is the nicest thing that anybody has ever done to you? What is the nicest thing anybody has ever said or written to you?
Read moreWhen I was younger, a standard exercise at retreats or conferences was to ask “What three things would you take with you to a deserted island?” On the news, we see entire families fleeing Ukraine. They have small rolling luggage, backpacks, and heavy coats with the pockets stuffed…
Read moreToday you will do things you can predict and other things you could never imagine this minute. Don't reject them. Don't think you can plan your day all out.
This day will never, no matter how long you live, happen again.
———inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye's quotation: "Today you will say things...."
What will be easy for me today or tomorrow?
What is hard for me?
What's hard for me today especially?
(Write for 5 to 30 minutes, the first sentences or phrases that come into your mind. This is not a formal essay.)
“My mother always lied to me.” Keep going…
Lyndsey went to put her wet clothes in the dryers, but maintenance men had the dryers pulled out from the wall, replacing the hoses. That was three days ago. Her clothes were going to mildew if she didn't get them dried. Her size 24 clothes would be a wrinkle mess.
But, Lyndsey couldn't find her laundry card with six dollars left on it. The card was white. Lyndsey had spent the last day and a half sorting through papers on tables and the floor, trying to clean up her apartment and get ready for a Board of Supervisor's meeting on Renters' Rights.
Where was the damned card?
What was last thing you said on the phone?
That is the title of your autobiography.
Write the first paragraph.
If inspired, write the first three pages.
Think of three cherished things you would grab in case of a fire.
(You don't have a pet or small toddler or baby,)
Write about one cherished item.
Why is it special? Is there a story behind it?
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