DoubleX, the online magazine by and for women that spun off of Slate, today has a delightful interview with Judy Blume, an author who meant the world to me during a truly awful stretch of adolescence, roughly from age 11 to 14.
Cue the Rod Serling voice: Picture, if you will, a Midwestern girl with gappy [...]
I find I do some really worthwhile writing in response. Sometimes to news stories, sometimes to essays or blogs. I usually respond when something taps a rich vein of feeling. The subject, or how it has been addressed, speaks to me so strongly that I can’t not respond.
Sometimes I send these responses, but most of [...]
The beginning of September feels more like new year to me than January 1 ever has, and I know I’m not alone, especially among my fellow writers. I think we all still look forward to the beginning of the school year as a time to start anew. One writer friend recently confided that she still [...]
Summer is at its peak, and I’ve given myself over to it. Partly, this is a matter of being the person who takes my teenagers (not yet drivers) to all of their practices, scrimmages, meets, games, sleepovers, friends’ houses, etc. Part of it is that the new novel has overtaken my imagination, and in the [...]
Vacation can be such a trip.
Take our recent vacation. We went “up north,” as we call it in Wisconsin. The Northwoods is gorgeous, full of lakes, rivers, woods and places to recreate, ranging from tourist traps to truly remote areas. Our up north experience has included, since my oldest was just a year old, visiting [...]
Family vacations bring back a lot of memories. My parents took my brother and I lots of places when we were growing up. It was no mean feat: my dad was a machinist in the auto industry, and at that time, mom was a homemaker. The vacation budget was small, and they stretched it mightily [...]
My son’s team played its last game of the season last night. It was perfect weather: mid-seventies, breezy enough that the mosquitoes didn’t plague us. There were enough puffy clouds at the horizon to enhance the sunset. And the boys won, securing first place in their division.
A spirit of good humor hung over the ball [...]
Happy July 4th, everyone. Enjoy the fireworks, picnic, boating, etc. And while you’re at it, express an opinion, read a newspaper, hug a librarian. In other words, savor some of the freedoms this day commemorates.
Some stories hit too close to home.
A library in West Bend, Wisconsin, less than an hour’s drive from my home, is being harassed by the Milwaukee branch of the Christian Civil Liberties Union for displaying Baby Be-Bop, by Francesca Lia Block, a book in her “Weetzie Bat” YA series. Baby Be-Bop is the coming-of-age story [...]
This week is crowded with rites of passage. One of my kids is graduating from 8th grade; the other turns thirteen. My husband’s uncle passed away over the weekend, so we’ll be attending a funeral Thursday morning, and the graduation ceremony Thursday evening. Uncle Frank’s passing is sad, but also expected. The seasons of life [...]