Find someone who looks like they need a friend, and be that person's friend: it was my mama's mandate to me on the first day of third grade, a tall order for an eight-year-old kid at a new school, but the outcome for me that year was a tight friendship with a sweet, third-generation Scot. It … Continue reading You Can’t Sit With Us: Reflections on a “Mean Girls” National Policy
Family
Hope and the Human Spirit: Postcard from Home
Knoxville’s downtown Market Square once held an imposing masonry building that served as a center for thriving commerce, including a beloved farmer’s market that purveyed meat, poultry, dairy, produce, and flowers trucked in from the city’s rural outskirts. A 14-year-old boy set it ablaze lighting a cigarette in the late 1950s, goes the story, gutting … Continue reading Hope and the Human Spirit: Postcard from Home
Talk to Me, Dammit: A Lamentation
A wise friend once observed she could live life without ever, or at least rarely, leaving her house if she chose. She could buy groceries and other goods and have them delivered to her, arrange for her car to be serviced, set up play dates for her children, and manage countless other tasks from the … Continue reading Talk to Me, Dammit: A Lamentation
Tail of the Dog, in Which Warden Prepares to Play the Wrong Piano Concerto
In 1999 the Portuguese virtuosa Maria Joao Pires famously sat at the piano with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, conductor Riccardo Chailly at the podium, awaiting the first bar of the piano concerto she expected to play for this lunchtime concert. Imagine her surprise when the orchestra began playing a different piece of music—the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor—instead … Continue reading Tail of the Dog, in Which Warden Prepares to Play the Wrong Piano Concerto
On Patience: How Long is Forever?
Sometimes, just one second.—Lewis Carroll The great, big exciting thing that was happening yesterday, the colossal event that was to be the subject of this post (and which many friends and readers have already surmised from various spoilers I’ve sprinkled in the cybersphere), is on hold ‘til this coming Friday. At least, we hope it … Continue reading On Patience: How Long is Forever?
It’s *good* to covet things.
One of the best presents ever, those pecans. My dear friend Bett sent them to us last Christmas; she said she gathered them from the bumper crop on the ground under two pecan trees near where her mama lives on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. I saved the tags and stuck them to the walls in my … Continue reading It’s *good* to covet things.
Charleston Reunions, Enough Sun in Wrightsville Beach
This morning I lamented to anybody listening it feels like we've been in the car for three days. We have, kinda. Sunday afternoon we arrived road-weary at my ex-sister-in-law's-but-still-my-sister's Mt. Pleasant home (we just call it Charleston, it's close enough) for a long overdue visit, first one in the flesh in too many years. One … Continue reading Charleston Reunions, Enough Sun in Wrightsville Beach
Letters Home: A Memorial Day Reflection
Dad handed me an ancient stationery box stuffed with letters a few years ago, written by my granddad on the eve of and during his WWII tour of duty. "Thought you'd get a kick out of this," he quipped, as he often does whenever he passes down more family artifacts. He was right about that. Some were addressed … Continue reading Letters Home: A Memorial Day Reflection
Agricultural Reflections: Cycling on the Battenkill
People here in Vermont are much closer to the land than they are in other states where I've lived. The state as a whole is sparsely populated, sparsely developed, and most of us live within spitting distance of at least one working farm. The road where I ride my bicycle is dotted with them, and an … Continue reading Agricultural Reflections: Cycling on the Battenkill
Emotional Habits: Putting Sadness in a Box
In her book The Creative Habit renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp writes about her work process. She starts a new box for each new project; anything that serves as inspiration goes into the box, along with every other object that has some meaningful connection to the work. When the project ends she puts a lid on the box … Continue reading Emotional Habits: Putting Sadness in a Box
Sycamore Stories 