The school year began with two weeks of rain. We bustled to class under umbrellas, hiked through spattering mist, scraped mud from our boots and ran the shoe-drier nonstop. "Summer's over," we said. The moment we returned to Norway, fall began. But somehow the last week of August, the sky cleared. The mist that always... Continue Reading →
A world of bread
Fall and spring, we have a project-week at school, when students and staff organize a great array of learning away from normal classes. There are several projects going on simultaneously, and students opt for one. Last spring, my husband and I led a slam poetry workshop. This past fall, students approached me with a project... Continue Reading →
Birthday Cake, and a Daily Writing Habit
I'm afraid a quick post today is all that I can manage. I've slept in late (9:44 the time reads now), and at 11:30 I'll head on down to campus for the Sunday study hall I lead, three meetings with students scheduled up, and a set of tests haranguing me for grades. It's also my... Continue Reading →
Morning Thank-yous
I didn't sleep well last night. Some kind of heartburn, that luckily I experience only rarely, kept jolting me awake, and water, an extra pillow, and antacid pills couldn't keep it still. So it is sometimes, these unexpected little annoyances of life, and today I am tired, and a bit frustrated with political machinations at... Continue Reading →
Short Stories in Naples
On Thursday morning, at the patisserie Poppella, I wrote this in my journal: I'm so overwhelmed by Naples. It's so busy. I feel like I'll be trampled when I walk on the street. Everything is dirty. Garbage is all over the streets. I'm afraid to take out my computer. I'm afraid someone will take it.... Continue Reading →
On authentic writing, bread, and Like Water for Chocolate
For those of us in Western cultures and the Middle East, there are few foods more staple than bread. We might not even notice the bread as we swim through grocery store aisles (shoutout to Hannah Whiteoak's "Earth Report"), throw a sandwich in our lunchboxes, proclaim some sensational new dip at a party... Onion focaccia.... Continue Reading →