Yesterday I was interviewed about the Finkbeiner Test for the Change Artist Podcast (episode will go live at a later date). While gathering up some links to share, I realized that it was exactly ten years ago — January 17, 2013 — that Ann wrote the LWON post that would become the world-renowned Finkbeiner Test. […]
Say what you will about 2022, but for me, it’s been a great year of reading. By that I mean, I’ve read a lot of really good books. I keep my yearly book list only for myself, and I try not to get competitive about racking up numbers. The reading itself is the point. That […]
Before I begin, a disclaimer: I’m sick of writing about mammography. It feels like groundhog day — I’ve been writing the same damn story, over and over and over again, for nearly 15 years. [NOTE: This post you’re reading first ran in October, 2015, which means I’ve now been writing about this for well over 20 years.] This is at least the fifth […]
It’s summer, and I’ve been thinking of what poet Billy Collins called those, “forlorn chairs/though at one time it must have seemed/a good place to stop and do nothing for a while.” Even situated, as they usually are, to take in the view, it’s hard for those chairs to compete with the attention-grabbing distractions found […]
I recently picked up a copy of John Koenig’s beautiful little book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and was pleasantly reminded of how satisfying it is to find a word for that thing that you’re feeling. Koenig’s book features dictionary entries of words he’s created to name human emotions, punctuated with short, thoughtful essays about […]
This post first ran on January 15, 2013, but since then, the New York Times ran a gorgeous photo spread of murmurations that you should definitely check out. This morning I awoke to the kind of day that offers an easy excuse to skip the walk. The temperature gauge read -3F (-19C) when I crawled out of […]
My Dad’s birthday is this weekend, and just as I did last year, I’m going to Albuquerque to celebrate with him. Last year, I drove down the day after my second covid vaccine and it felt like the world was on the verge of returning to normal. We celebrated Dad’s birthday last year on the […]
This post first ran on January 28, 2015, but I thought of it again recently while playing Wordle and finding that that day’s answer was “moist.” Words are a writer’s currency, and we each have our favorites. The first word I remember falling in love with was onomatopoeia. It had a satisfying rhythm, plus there […]