This weekend — at Art in Paradise Alley — you get the chance to stop staring at your screen. Walk outside. Talk to artists. To look inside yourself and ask: “What am I looking at?” Art takes us into the minds of the artist, true. But it’s best used for getting to know ourselves Art works…
Category: Change
On Changing My View of Cooking
by
Today, I have a guest post over on “Take Back the Kitchen,” a great blog hosted by Alma Schneider. My post is a RECIPE (don’t faint) I created for Iced Green Tea that actually tastes good. Yes, I realize that I won’t win any foodie awards for this recipe. (ie. What? “Boil water. Put tea…
The Facebook Thing
by
At the end of Lent, I was over on Facebook, and my friend, Tammy, popped up on my Timeline and said in her status something like: Well, I’m back! Didja miss me?? I did it! A whole 40 days without Facebook! Then she posted a really great list of all the things she “got done”…
My Friend, with Existential Chickens
by
I have a super great old friend from college, Jen. She’s a writer (here’s her book) and a journalist. And a mom. She lives in Des Moines and recently she acquired chickens. She and her husband and her kids have chickens in their backyard. Do you ever look at your friends, when they do something…
Gone the Mailbox
by
At the post office, the hated post office, where lines greet me and awful racks of greeting cards Line walls, ignored. The post office and its Perfume of desperation. The place where scales and stamps sit in dusty corners Like aristocrats awaiting their bloody fate. The post office, doomed, because It is about PLACE and…
The Girl Effect
by
When a girl turns 12 And lives in poverty Her future is out of her control. In the eyes of many, She is a Woman Now. Married by 14 Pregnant by 15 She may have to sell her body to support her family. What’s the solution? There are 50 million of them. girleffect.org Today bloggers…
America Wants… Support
by
This is a Guest Post by Matt Brotherton, part of the BIG QUESTION series: “What does America Want?“ — I don’t know that I can speak for everyone out there. I’m not sure anyone can define what an entire nation of people really want. The differences between people can be like night and day. Everything…
Google+, and Other Anchors
by
Google+ is now a part of my life. I am mostly thrilled to add it to my collection of ways to communicate with people I know and don’t know online. These also include: Twitter LinkedIn Picasa Flickr WordPress Blogger Facebook Gmail Digg And many others. Just as I pondered when I started dabbling in Twitter,…
Back of My Hand
by
I-74Across the Mississippi–That Familiar vein throughMy life I Cross this morning east.Your still flatness hides Lonely strongCurrentsPulling me back. Day 9, A River of Stones
All Hail the Right Brain!
by
Or, On the Research of Choosing You. Neuroscientists have been doing a lot of good work for those of us who consider ourselves creative, artistic and “right-brained.” Personally, I think we are all this way! This is fantastic news. Yes, our scientist friends are discovering that the Right Brain– with its power to love, mourn,…
Squinting at the Past
by
So I’ve been home in the town where I grew up for a few days to visit my ailing Dad. I am always relieved to get here, and feel it viscerally. But at the same time, my visits are filled with the anxiety of missing someone, letting someone down, not seeing enough of who and…
In Praise of My Homeschool Homies
by
I used to be one of those annoying, know-it-alls about education. “School is the only place for a child to learn what it is REALLY like out there in the world.” I’d sneer. Well, then, what happened was: I actually MET people who homeschool. I spent time around their kids. I learned more about how…
I, Swim
by
I swam the full length, freestyle, for the first time last night. I came up at the deep end to the cheers of Latoya, Paul, and Dan — my support team — at Flood Pool. On the way home, I heard Faith Middleton interviewing one of my favorite environmentalist writers, Bill McKibben. Only he wasn’t…
Stop Everything
by
Betty cat sidles up Shoves her way in Lolls under my firm pressure Kneading my gut. Telling me with toenails uncut… Stop working, stop everything– Make more… Make more love.
Sexy Ballerinas & Sweaty Marky Mark
by
Or, Why I Won’t Tell You that this is “A Post About BLEEPinism,” Because If I Did You Wouldn’t Read It “Why don’t more “enlightened” men talk about their role in gender and family issues?” was a question I recently posed as my Facebook status. I received two comments, neither from men. However, when I…
