Sometimes it’s imperative to stop and smell (wait, maybe the better word is “touch” or “look” for this one!) the earthworms. Liliana’s fascinated with them and holds them up to watch them wriggle. If they’re stiff and gravelly, she says, “Dead,” and lays them back down. Dan says, “Why don’t you eat it?” and Liliana […]
Mother’s Plunge: Retreat and Renewal
Okay, here’s an opportunity for all you exhausted and depleted mothers out there (isn’t that all of us?). I’m disappointed I can’t take advantage of it, but I thought I should tell you about it, in case you can. Karen Maezen Miller is holding a one-day Mother’s Retreat in Sierra Madre, California. Even though she’s […]
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year, for her loosely related short story collection called Olive Kitteridge. The book is one of the best I’ve read for character study. Each story either brushes up against Olive–the wife of a loving husband, a mother of a stubborn boy, and seventh-grade teacher in town–or […]
Is It Ever Right To Lie?
Years ago, when I was still teaching high schoolers, the movie Life is Beautiful came out, and it was the topic of much discussion as my students entered and exited my room during passing periods. “Go see it, Elliott,” they’d say. [They always knocked off the “Mrs.” I think it was their way of including […]
The Garden That’s Been Entrusted To You
Poem for today: The Wind, One Brilliant Day Antonio Machado (translated by Robert Bly) The wind, one brilliant day, called to my soul with an odor of jasmine. “In return for the odor of my jasmine, I’d like all the odor of your roses.” “I have no roses; all the flowers in my garden are […]