Our sixteen-year-old basenji, Bridget, died in her sleep last week, an event that fills us with both sadness and relief. Blind for the last three or four years, increasingly senile, with a sensitive stomach to boot, she took a lot of patience and a lot of care. She was the sixth of eleven […]
The Two-faced Power of Place
I’m realizing, as I cope with age and its disabilities, that a good part of the fear of growing old is loss of place—of being a part of something larger than myself—and the importance this plays in our identity. For many, especially women of my age, family remains the primary group, and in […]
Hello Again
Please forgive the silence of my blog since the new year began. I celebrated Friday the 13th by breaking my leg. Some might say it’s an omen for the year, but I’m not in the mood to accept that. After a rude three-week introduction to the helplessness of old age, I’m now reclaiming my place […]
Looking Back—Looking Ahead
As I sat down to write this last blog of 2022, I looked back at the blog I wrote at the beginning of the year. Here is the opening paragraph. I don’t know how to start this new year that feels already old. The usual resolutions seem irrelevant, the questions bewildering, the answers out of […]
A Season of Peace and Hope
Wishing you all a season of peace and hope. Gaze at the moon Rub a magic lamp Dream well Read a good book! See you in 2023!
Now Comes the Test
Election 2022 is all but over. A few races are yet to be counted, and we don’t yet know the final count of the US Senate, but we have enough to see the road ahead. We are an evenly divided country with an evenly divided government, but the Democrats have escaped decimation. Will we have […]
No Red Wave!?!
Election Day plus one, and liberals are shaking their heads in amazement. Conservatives are shaking their in bewilderment—or disbelief. No red wave swept the Democrats out of office. In fact, some red states started popping blue spots. Yesterday, election day, I had nothing to write; it was a day of waiting for the axe to […]
Fear of Chaos
Two weeks until Election Day and former President Obama declared he was through giving speeches—he was out of words. Amen—my feeling exactly. In an election that is more vital than any midterms of recent history, we cannot communicate with—cannot reach—half the voters of the country. Both sides believe the oligarchy of the rich has […]
In Memoriam–Paula
In Memoriam Paula Oct. 22, 1962-Jul. 23, 1982 Autumn is here. The air has cooled, the breeze turned brisk, the green world begun to color, the lethargy of summer transformed into the energy of expectation. It’s Paula’s month. Yesterday, her sister, Miriam, and I agreed that the air is full of her. […]
It’s Time to Act: VOTE!
I was browsing through my blogs today, looking for topics and wondering why nothing seemed appropriate. Then I realized I’d committed the chief failing of my academic upbringing—analyzing causes when the time has come for action. So enough reflection. The upcoming election is more vital to the nation’s welfare than any in history. It’s time […]
Take Back the Flag
One of the saddest developments of the national crisis is that we’ve come to identify the American flag with the far right, and assume that residents of houses flying the flag must be Trump supporters. It’s hardly new that the far right believes they are more American than liberals. Calling opponents “Un-American” was a favorite […]
To My Fellow Midwesterners
I’m a Midwesterner. It’s been a long time since I left, but I’m still a Chicagoan—from Carl Sandburg’s “Hog-butcher of the World” Chicago. The Chicago of my day was the rail center that brought the farm to market. Though I was born, raised, educated, and married there, my roots are in the small […]
