Elizabeth Gilbert: To The Signature of All Things from Eat Pray Love

I must admit, I’m a reluctant latecomer to the Elizabeth Gilbert phenomenon. But here I am. Recently, at the urging of journalist friend Selina, I succumbed to reading Eat Pray Love. *GASP* Can you imagine? But this week, I had … Continue reading

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What Handheld Devices Have Done to Family TV Viewing

TV when I was a kid was a different animal than today. Sure, it had its detractors and proponents, but what it didn’t have was 24-7 programming—anything you can imagine watching and then some—at your fingertips in your pocket. We’ve … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving, Writing, the Kitchen Sink and Other Rituals

Grandmother’s Kitchen Sometimes I’m paralyzed by the idea that I can recall so few specifics about my grandmother. She was a cook undaunted by crowds lining up outside our church—serving three hundred or more in a night with her massive … Continue reading

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Old Bottles, Time Capsules, and Going Home

 Walking into the backyard this weekend, I was intrigued to see my thirteen-year-old kneeling under the grapefruit tree, digging. “What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m planting a time capsule,” she said. I smiled at the word “planting.”  It seemed … Continue reading

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Airplane Conversations and the Geography of Heart

What is it about air travel that strips you of something of yourself?  That allows you to open up with a passing stranger that otherwise wouldn’t happen?  What is it? On a recent flight, I sat next to another woman … Continue reading

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“What’s a hook-up, anyway?”

      Words and meanings are slippery. Crossing cultures and time, words have a way of morphing.     Generational Syntactical Blunders One evening after dinner, a young man visited our household for dessert and studying with my oldest … Continue reading

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Not Writing and Healing: the mid-age knee saga

The first knee-twist-lock-F-bomb scenerio August leaving the English Department with the Director of Humanities—my new boss, we chatted and laughed as I pushed against a massive oak door leading outside. Mid push my left knee snapped, folded and locked. Falling … Continue reading

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