A Basic Seventeen
November 1999 “And so, first of all, let us remember him, gentlemen, all our lives. And even though we may be involved with the most important affairs, achieve distinction or fall into some great misfortune…
Category: Correspondence
Recent Reading
Sunday 11 April 2021 Dear Sarah, Thanks for your question about what I’ve been reading. Sometimes I make a plan, then other times I act entirely on instinct. So what follows are examples of each….
What a Wedding’s Good for
With its three major conflicts brewing (“you’re on my side, aren’t you?”) And seven minor ones simmering (“he was a loser then, he’s even worse now”) The bride’s burning eyes (“there’s only one way to…
What Sarah’s Been Reading with Gusto
I emailed Saran McNeal, and wrote: “Tell me something you’ve been reading lately that jazzes you up! Here’s how she responded… Hi Mark, Good to hear from you. Sorry for being so quiet these last weeks….
“What a Community!” Reading The Book of Mev by Jean Durel
My friend Jean sent me the following… Have so loved The Book of Mev — even though my heart was breaking at times and tears were streaming down my face. Of course I knew the end,…
Lines Written on the Back of a Wangari Maathai Postcard by Katja
I remember cookies crumbs on 6 North Coffee tables I remember the banishment of “should” I remember Being Peace I remember blue-lined notebooks I remember Natalie Goldbergisms I remember writing outside the margins I remember…
A Note from Long Ago
Mev’s The Struggle Is One was published in the summer of 1994, some months after her glioblastoma surgery.
True Happiness Is a Verb
Monday 28 December 2020 Dear C, Having written you yesterday about Annie Liebovits and Susan Sontag, I want to mention today that I took the phrase “Wisdom Project” from Sontag in her collection, At the…
The Reading Life/2
By the Blue Light of a Cell Phone by Katie Consamus Dr Chmiel, I just flipped on CNN after getting home from rehearsal and immediately thought of our encounter on New Year’s Eve as I…
Mentshes/2
“I Belong to Chomsky” Spring 1994 was blooming in the Bay Area. We participated in a Good Friday demonstration at the Lawrence Livermore nuclear laboratory with Steve Kelly and our Pax Christi friends. The following…