Posted in Art, Authors, Bones, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Gratitude, Memoir, Practice, Relationships, Taos, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged artists, author interviews, becoming a writer, friendships, interview with Natalie Goldberg, loneliness, mentors, Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away, teachers as mentors, the black dog, the writer's life, wild mind, Writing Down The Bones, writing memoir, writing practice, writing process, writing relationships, writing with students on May 13, 2008 | 27 Comments »
Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg, images provided by Simon & Schuster, photo of Goldberg © 2008 by Mary Feidt. All rights reserved.
On Thursday, April 10, QuoinMonkey and ybonesy interviewed Natalie Goldberg, author of the recently released Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. The interview was especially meaningful in [...]
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Posted in Family, Gratitude, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged siblings, the power of birth order, writing about birth order, youngest child on May 8, 2008 | 9 Comments »
I’m trying to remember how it was. I see myself skinny on the concrete driveway, dirty knock knees, a striped t-shirt, tiny bumps for boobs. Not only the youngest, but a young youngest.
I didn’t develop until I was 17, didn’t know about Kotex or tampons, although my older sisters told me about starting periods and [...]
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Posted in Culture, Family, I Don't Remember, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged firstborn child, middle child, mothers and daughters, superheroes, the power of birth order, the practice of writing, writing about birth order on May 8, 2008 | 12 Comments »
Yes, I’m a firstborn. With all the flaws, rights, privileges, and responsibilities that go with being a firstborn. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Hmmm. JFK? No, it was Peter Benjamin Parker. Spider-Man.
Maybe it should read, “With great responsibility comes great power.” Either way, there is an ethical piece, a balance between burden and privilege.
Firstborns [...]
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Posted in Art of Rebellion, Bones, Culture, Death, Essay, Family, Gratitude, Love, Memoir, Photography, Place, Relationships, Spirituality, Travel, tagged Beverly Donofrio, Catholicism, cemeteries, grandmothers, honoring the dead, honoring the past, Looking for Mary, mothers, New Mexico, Raton, religion, Virgen Maria, Virgin Mary, visiting graveyards on May 3, 2008 | 35 Comments »
Mother Mary as in a Dream, Raton, NM, photos © 2008 by
ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Last Wednesday afternoon I found myself in one of the best spots I could imagine, with my parents and oldest sister, and in the company of my beloved grandparents and best-ever uncle. We were in the cemetery in Raton, New Mexico, [...]
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Posted in Art of Rebellion, Culture, Death, Family, Gratitude, Memoir, Obituaries & Epitaphs, Place, Poetry, Relationships, Skies, tagged Bear, Bearhug, Cielito Lindo, death of an uncle, honoring death, Mary Oliver, Michael Ondaatje, The Cinnamon Peeler, Why I Wake Early on April 28, 2008 | 12 Comments »
In Bloom, wisteria blooming in the mid-April spring before
the hard freeze, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
My Uncle Bear died yesterday. I was at my daughter’s horse show when I got the call from Mom. Dad was crying too much to tell me himself.
I wonder what it’s like to lose a younger sibling. [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Memoir, On the Road, Relationships, Spirituality, Writers, Writing, tagged An Evening with Elizabeth Gilbert and Anne Lamott, Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird, books about spirituality, Carolyn Flynn, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Operating Instructions, Ruth Stone, spiritual paths, Traveling Mercies, UCLA events on April 9, 2008 | 33 Comments »
By Carolyn Flynn
For red Ravine
SAGE Editor, author and redRavine.com contributor Carolyn Flynn recently attended “An Evening with Elizabeth Gilbert and Anne Lamott” on the UCLA campus.
To loosen up before writing a new book, Elizabeth Gilbert invites one person to join her and live inside her head. She says she wrote Eat Pray Love as a [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Creative Nonfiction, Gratitude, Memoir, Photography, Place, Reading, Writers, tagged book readings, book talk, Bookworks, how to write memoir, independent bookstores, mentors, Natalie Goldberg, new book releases, Old Friend from Far Away, support Independent bookstores on April 5, 2008 | 24 Comments »
Heart to Hands, Natalie Goldberg at Bookworks in Albuquerque, photo © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. (QuoinMonkey started the Writers’ Hands series; this photo is in that fashion yet not of the series. Deep bow to QM for the inspiration.)
It’s been almost a month since I went to Bookworks on Rio Grande Boulevard in Albuquerque’s Rio Grande valley [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Authors, Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Life, Memoir, Photography, Poetry, Practice, Relationships, Structure, Topic Writing, Vision, Writers, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged giving back, gratitude for community, red Ravine Guests, thank you, writing community on March 23, 2008 | 17 Comments »
Piglet Bearing Gifts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 2007, photo © 2007 by SkyWire Alley. All rights reserved.
I’m afraid the photograph of Piglet gives me away — I’m a little late posting this piece. I had wanted to get it out in January. You know what they say about the best laid plans.
Still, it wouldn’t be right [...]
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Posted in Art of Rebellion, Authors, Bones, Books, Death, Love, Memoir, Obituaries & Epitaphs, Photography, Place, Quotes, Relationships, Silence, Taos, Writers, Writing, tagged Angelo Ravagli, D. H. Lawrence, epitaphs, Frieda Lawrence, Kiowa Ranch, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Not I But The Wind, relatives of the Red Baron, Til Death Do Us Part on March 16, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Not I, But The Wind, tombstone of Frieda Lawrence, near Taos, New Mexico, February 2007, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin
(Baroness) von Richthofen
In Memory of twenty five years of incomparable companionship - Angie
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen was a distant relative of the “Red Baron” [...]
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Posted in Body, Bones, Culture, Death, Family, Growing Older, Laughing, Life, Memoir, Obituaries & Epitaphs, Personal, Photography, Place, Writing Topics, tagged ancestors, cemeteries, epitaphs, excavating memories, family history, names, researching memoir, Shirley Ellis, the name game, what's in a name, writing about names on March 13, 2008 | 42 Comments »
I continue to pore through photographs and tapes of my trip to Georgia and South Carolina last summer.
“What’s taking you so long?” Monkey Mind yells from the wings (grabbing every opportunity to scratch his haunches).
“It’s a slow process, excavating the past,” I soberly reply. “Don’t rush me.”
Family history rises from the rich, black compost - memories, stories, [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, Writers, Writing, tagged A Girl Named Zippy, A Million Little Pieces, Alexandra Fuller, Augusten Burroughs, Beverly Donofrio, Creative Nonfiction, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, fabricated memoir, Haven Kimmel, James Frey, Lee Gutkind, Looking for Mary, Love and Consequences, Margaret B. Jones, Margaret Seltzer, Mary Karr, Misha Defonseca, Running with Scissors, The Liars' Club, writing memoir on March 4, 2008 | 24 Comments »
What do James Frey — author of A Million Little Pieces — and Margaret Seltzer (who last week published a book under pseudonym Margaret B. Jones) have in common? Both wrote acclaimed memoirs that turned out to be fabrications.
Today The New York Times article ”Gang Memoir, Turning Page, Is Pure Fiction” detailed how Seltzer, who is white and grew [...]
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I take a risk when I write, period. Risk that I might say something I can never take back. Risk I might say something that someone will recognize, like the time I wrote about going to the Taj Mahal with R. How we met in the lobby of our hotel before sunrise, and how I [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Gratitude, Memoir, Photography, Practice, Quotes, Reading, Structure, Writers, Writing, tagged bookstores, Common Good Books, giving back, how to write memoir, mentors, Minnesota, Natalie Goldberg, new book releases, Old Friend from Far Away, support Independent bookstores, writing community, writing practice on February 18, 2008 | 36 Comments »
Old Friend From Far Away, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I bought Natalie Goldberg’s new book, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir, on February 14th, Valentine’s Day. Actually, Liz bought it for me, the creative version of romance - a writer’s gift. We visited Common [...]
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Posted in Body, Essay, Family, Growing Older, Memoir, Practice, tagged hair, memories of hair, red hair, redhead, writing about hair on February 8, 2008 | 26 Comments »
By Robin
There’s a story about my birth that was told fairly often when I was growing up. It’s a short story, and involves hair.
When my mother was pregnant with me, my father was asked by a friend what his preference was: a boy or a girl? His answer was that he didn’t care if it [...]
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Posted in Authors, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Film / TV / Video, Gratitude, Memoir, Practice, Silence, Spirituality, Structure, Wake Up, Writers, Writing, tagged how to write memoir, mentors, Natalie Goldberg, new book releases, Old Friend from Far Away, video, writing practice on January 10, 2008 | 26 Comments »
from vodpod.com posted with vodpod
Natalie Goldberg, Old Friend from Far Away - The Practice of Writing Memoir, December 21st, 2007 (to play video, click either green arrow twice)
Natalie Goldberg has a new book coming out on February 12th, Old Friend from Far Away - The Practice Of Writing Memoir. One of our readers [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Culture, Everyday Art, Food, Home, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Place, Things That Fly, Vision, tagged Basilica of St. Mary, Claes Oldenburg, Coosje Van Bruggen, Frida Kahlo, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Southern cooking, Spoonbridge and Cherry, Walker Art Center, ways to start the New Year, White Elephant Cafe, white elephants on January 5, 2008 | 44 Comments »
White Elephant Cafe, Augusta, Georgia, June 2007, photo © 2007-2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I don’t have much energy for writing. Liz and I spent the day at the Frida Kahlo Exhibit at the Walker Art Center. Then romped around the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Conservatory, snapping photographs of:
That’s our idea of a FUN day. [...]
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Posted in Family, Growing Older, Laughing, Love, Memoir, Music, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Secrets, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Beatles '65, ghosts of Christmas past, growing up, listening to albums, love of music, music and memories, music nostalgia, the first time, vintage, vinyl, wax on December 20, 2007 | 10 Comments »
The first time I heard Beatles ‘65 I was 9 or 10. It was a big deal because it was my first LP, the FIRST vinyl 33 1/3 Long Playing record album I ever owned. Before that, I had a series of 45’s, neatly stacked in the small bedroom I shared with my younger sister. [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Home, Laughing, Life, Memoir, Personal, Place, Relationships, tagged Amish foods, history of food, how the Whoopie Pie got its name, how to make Whoopie Pies, Labadies Bakery, Lancaster County, Maine Whoopie Pies, passing down family recipes, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, tradition on December 14, 2007 | 33 Comments »
Whoopie Pies, Falmouth, Maine, photo by alcinoe, 2006, image released to public domain.
I’m having way too much fun with these old family recipes. The comfort foods we grew up with connect to memories. And memories connect to family stories. In a comment on Memories, Writing, & Family Recipes, Mom mentioned the delectable Whoopie Pie and my [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Film / TV / Video, Growing Older, Life, Love, Memoir, Music, Photography, Practice, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged 33 rpm's, 45 rpm's, Ann & Nancy Wilson, Blood On The Tracks, Dylan, heart, Hope & Glory, Love Me Like Music, music and memories, musicians, records, songwriters, Top 10 Albums of all time, vintage, wax, writing about music, Writing Topics on December 10, 2007 | 27 Comments »
Blood On The Tracks, newly painted garage door on Dylan’s childhood home, part of the Dylan Days tour, Hibbing, Minnesota, May 2006, photo © 2006 by Liz. All rights reserved.
I’ve had music on the brain. Last week I watched an October interview with Nancy and Ann Wilson on A&E’s Private Sessions. The two [...]
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Posted in Culture, Death, Family, Growing Older, I Don't Remember, Life, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Crayola, crayons, Goldenrod, Mahogany, memories, writing about color, writing practice on December 9, 2007 | 23 Comments »
I had a hard time choosing one color, the way I have a hard time choosing anything. When I looked over the list of Crayola colors, I realized I must have had a 64 box of crayons because it would have been impossible in my age range to grow up with a box with 80 [...]
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Posted in Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Love, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writing Topics, tagged Family, Food, memories in food & cooking, Meringue-Topped Southern Banana Pudding, Original Nilla Banana Pudding, passing down family recipes, Practice, Southern banana pudding, Thanksgiving, traditions, writing about food, writing practice & food on November 23, 2007 | 38 Comments »
Stirring the steaming, liquid vanilla pudding as it warms on the stove is kind of Zen for me. The silver spoon gleams and swirls through currents of milk and cornstarch. I stare, mesmerized.
Liz was bustling around the kitchen, dicing and dashing, mixing the Dijon, OJ, and honey basting sauce, chopping bananas, basting the naked Cornish [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, Family Recipes, Food, passing down family recipes, R3, Southern banana pudding, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions on November 21, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Old family recipes remind me of the good parts of childhood. The smells are familar and warm, enveloping me in a giant culinary hug. The tastes are like ancestral footprints, distinct to each family, passed down for generations. (They don’t call it comfort food for nothin’!)
My 5 siblings and I have started pulling together Mom’s [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, dumplings, favorite cookware, Food, passing down family recipes, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions, turkey on November 18, 2007 | 24 Comments »
I was sitting in Amelia’s kitchen with the smell of Southern style chicken and dumplings pouring through my nostrils, when it occurred to me I should be writing her recipes down. I’ve never been much of a cook. But all of my siblings carry on the tradition of Mom’s cooking. That was in mouthwatering evidence [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Authors, Bones, Books, Culture, Death, Dreams, Fiction, Fotoblog, Life, Love, Memoir, Photography, Politics, Quotes, Reading, Relationships, Structure, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, Bel Canto, Fitzgerald Theater, interviews, Kerri Miller, Lucy Grealy, Memoir, Minnesota, St Paul, Talking Volumes, The Second Coming, Truth & Beauty, W. B. Yeats, Writers, writers on tour, Writing, writing relationships on November 6, 2007 | 31 Comments »
Writer’s Hands IV, hands of Bel Canto author, Ann Patchett, signing a copy of her latest book, Run, Fitzgerald Theater, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Part I.
On a rainy October night, inside the haunted Fitzgerald Theater, Ann Patchett held the audience rapt. She has created a huge life [...]
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Posted in Family, Life, Memoir, Personal, Place, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged childhood, feelings of being lost, lost, lost things on November 4, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Things that are lost, and really I feel like taking a gulp of my coffee. I feel like lying on my tummy at Dr. L’s place and having him adjust whatever it is I lost and has been relocated just behind my shoulder blade. Maybe he’ll find a little trinket, one of Em’s sparkly necklace pendants [...]
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Posted in Authors, Books, Fiction, Memoir, Photography, Practice, Relationships, Structure, Wake Up, Writers, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged Ann Patchett, Fitzgerald Theater, grief, joy, loss, Lucy Grealy, Practice, Truth & Beauty, Writers, Writing, Writing Topics on October 28, 2007 | 24 Comments »
What Have You Lost, Rainpainting Series, outside the Fitzgerald Theater, downtown, St. Paul, Minnesota, night of Ann Patchett, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
If you want to know someone, truly know someone, ask them about the things they have lost. No matter how long it’s been. It doesn’t matter. The things we [...]
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Posted in Food, Great Places To Write, Memoir, Photography, Place, Quotes, Random, Writers, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, diners, Memoir, Mickey's Diner, Minnesota, St Paul, Truth & Beauty, Writers, Writing on October 24, 2007 | 7 Comments »
Mickey’s Diner In The Rain, Rainpainting Series, outside Mickey’s Diner near the Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s been a long couple of weeks. Mr. Stripeypants has started to eat hard food again and seems to be on the mend. (Thanks for all the good energy [...]
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Posted in Body, Bones, Culture, Death, Dreams, Family, Growing Older, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Place, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged cemeteries, daughters, grandmothers, graves, grief, haunted, loss, mothers, trains, writing practice on October 19, 2007 | 20 Comments »
I’m more haunted by the things that haven’t happened, than I am by the things that have. Half worn radials rumble over the railroad tracks near Winnetka and Bass Lake Road, wipers slap another day of dreary fog and rain; I drudge up the things that haunt me. Porcupine quills in tender skin.
There were no [...]
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Posted in Authors, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Dreams, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Memoir, Photography, Practice, Reading, Writers, Writing, tagged Authors, Candyfreak, community, hands, Minneapolis Central Library, Not That You Asked, Steve Almond, Writers, Writing on October 12, 2007 | 28 Comments »
Writer’s Hands III, hands of Candyfreak author, Steve Almond, signing a copy of his latest book, (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions, Minneapolis Central Library, downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s late and I’m tired. But I wanted to write a short note. I just got home [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Authors, Bones, Culture, Death, Holidays, Life, Memoir, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writing Topics, tagged All Hallow's Eve, Exit Ghost, ghosts, Halloween, haunted, Holidays, Philip Roth, Practice, writing topic on October 10, 2007 | 15 Comments »
The Haunting, All Hallow’s Eve By The Fire, one year ago, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 31st, 2006, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Maybe it’s the time of year — Halloween and Day of the Dead nearly upon us. Nights grow longer. Frost kills the plants, and another season is put to rest.
Or maybe it’s [...]
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Posted in Art, Authors, Books, Culture, Dreams, Fiction, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Memoir, Photography, Place, Random, Structure, Writers, Writing, tagged F Scott Fitzgerald, famous writers, Fitzgerald Theater, Minnesota, St Paul, vintage on September 16, 2007 | 14 Comments »
The Fitzgerald, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 2007, photo © 2007
by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Last April, I went to see Galway Kinnell at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. As my friend and I left the theater after a magnificent night of interviews and poetry, I turned and snapped this shot.
I am fortunate to live [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Authors, Books, Creative Nonfiction, Culture, Fiction, Film / TV / Video, Growing Older, I Don't Remember, Memoir, Money, Photography, Politics, Random, Reading, Spirituality, Writers, Writing, tagged 1960's bestsellers, 1960's history, American bestsellers, American history, how literature enriches life, literature, Minneapolis Central Library, the 1960's on August 30, 2007 | 29 Comments »
BookMark, Minneapolis Central Library, downtown Minneapolis, through the rain, August 2007, opened May 2006, architecture by the design team of Cesar Pelli & Associates, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Time for another decade of bestselling books. At the end of the 1960’s, gas was 39¢ a gallon, a 1962 Jaguar XKE would set [...]
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Posted in Essay, Family, Film / TV / Video, Home, Memoir, Personal, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, tagged cleaning rituals, folding clothes, memories, mothers and daughters on August 28, 2007 | 16 Comments »
I have a picture in my head of Mom. She’s wearing soft denim shorts to just above her knees. Her hair is in curlers, a red bandana tied around the curlers, a cigarette on her lip. Next to her, on the floor, is a flat metal ashtray, the kind that folds like tin when you bend it. [...]
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Posted in Art, Body, Culture, Dreams, Film / TV / Video, Gratitude, Growing Older, Memoir, Money, Photography, Practice, Relationships, Spirituality, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged Charis Wilson, Edward Weston, Eloquent Nude, film, Ian McCluskey, Julie Gliniany, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Riverview Theater on August 22, 2007 | 14 Comments »
Riverview Theater, vintage 1948 sign, designed by Liebenberg and Kaplan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved
A good friend called me last Sunday completely revved up about a film she had seen at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis. The last showings were scheduled for Sunday at noon and 5:30p.m. and [...]
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Posted in Bones, Books, Culture, Death, Family, Growing Older, Haiku, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Nature, On the Road, Personal, Photography, Place, Poetry, Practice, Topic Writing, Wake Up, Work, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged abandoned houses, Haiku, Memoir, memories, Poetry, writing about the past on August 17, 2007 | 31 Comments »
You Can’t Go Back, one of the homes I lived in as a child, now abandoned, June 2007, Augusta, Georgia, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I spent two weeks on the road in June, researching my book. The second week was a road trip with my mother to Georgia, where I spent much [...]
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