From Downton Abbey to Dallas, from The Sopranos to Days of Our Lives, family sagas keep us thirsting for the next chapter. Maybe it is to escape our own lives, but I don’t think so. I think it is to escape the loneliness of our own crises, to recognize them in the lives of others—after […]
The relationship between creativity and madness is a longstanding topic for psychologists and artists alike, but answers elude all. Nevertheless, the question continues to haunt students of the human psyche. So, if others think you half-mad to be a writer, or if you sometimes fear they may be right, take a look at this take […]
Family secrets are imprisoned stories. The silences, the unnamed people or events that threaten the family’s sense of itself or bring stigma are erased by silence. Such is the power of language—cease speaking of it, naming it (or the person), and it ceases to exist. But someone knows or they’d never get passed […]
If you’ve never read Oliver Sacks, you should. He is a physician, neuroscientist, and best-selling author of twelve books, the latest of which, Hallucinations, was published in 2012. No dry scientist, his eloquence reaches deep into what it means to be human. In the February/March AARP magazine, he “muses on the gift of a long […]
I’d like to share a note for November, passed on by a neighbor from a local nursery newsletter. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward As long as I can remember, I have been a serendipity enthusiast. I was […]
Why is that so often the first question we ask a stranger? To place him or her geographically, sure, but also in the whole universe of language, culture, and attitudes we associate with place. So it used to be, when people asked me that, I’d mumble apologetically. I longed to say “the mountains of […]
Judith Kirscht lives and works in the beautiful Puget Sound area. She is the author of four published works of fiction with more to come soon!
