After a career as a country doctor in rural Alabama and British Columbia’s Cariboo region, Sterling Haynes has turned his experiences into a second career as a writer and poet. His Momma Does Milk pulled no punches about the experiences of nursing mothers. Narratives for Dummies was inspired by a talk we both attended,...
I’m delighted to have another chance to feature one of Rick Hardman’s poems. If you haven’t seen his Hornets in my head, be sure to check it out as well. Rick’s grasp of language and metaphor is evident in “Gossamer threads”. The threads of his life form an intricate pattern as he continues to...
In less than seven weeks I’m turning 65. Aging has never held much terror for me, probably because my mother was comfortable with her own. I have a hunch she would have kept her gray hair, as I have, had she not been persuaded by certain family members to youthify her follicles. My mother’s...
On July 5th in a Melbourne hospital, a miracle slipped into the world. I know that’s true because one of her moms called me moments later to tell me I was officially “Tutu”. That’s a Hawaiian word for grandmother and will be my nickname as this most beloved of children grows. I never experienced...
Sunburn in Scotland Sunburn was the last thing I expected when I set out to climb Ben Nevis. You can start out in sun and get caught in fog, gale-force winds or pelting rain. Stumble into one of the gullies or off a ridge en route to the summit, and the next stop is...
The amateur photographer in me saw Rich Lam’s photograph of the kissing couple in the middle of Vancouver’s June 15, 2011, riot and thought, “Wow, lucky guy. What an incredible catch.” I was considering the photographer lucky, not the boyfriend. Canadian Alexandra Thomas and Australian Scott Jones have become media darlings as a result...
When I was growing up, I was proud to be American. I ate national pride with my breakfast cereal. I still love the country of my birth, but now I’m embarrassed by a lot of what I hear and see. Too much of what’s happening these days eats away at the values I embrace....
The statistics are staggering. Around the world there are millions of victims of sexual assaults, honour killings, gender-selective abortions, date rapes, female infanticide, and misogyny* in all its manifestations. I am one of the more fortunate of my gender. I live in a safe place, with a loving partner and male friends who are...
For over twenty years my mother did the bookkeeping for a seed company in Twin Falls, Idaho. The salary was low. Hours were long. She worked five and a half days a week and never got more than a couple weeks of vacation. I don’t know if she loved the job. I do know...
I have an almost magical belief in books. I expect to find guidance for whatever question or problem I’m wrestling with just by picking up the right book. And why not? I know I’m not the first person to go through whatever it is that’s tripping me up at any given time. While I...
My life is sailing along pretty smoothly these days so I don’t need to keep looking in certain folders on my computer, the ones labeled “Nice Words”. This hasn’t always been the case. During some lonely and unsettling times, I wasn’t sure I could justify taking up space on the planet. Those nice words...
Facebook
Twitter