Dear “Hermana Ann” by Maria Vazquez-Smith
Maria is taking a class with me based on The Book of Mev. One of the weekly themes was Direct Address, and Maria wrote the following and gave me permission to share it. Dear “Hermana…
Tag: Mev Puleo
A Witness to Power’s Mendacity
A while back I reread David Barsamian’s first collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky, entitled Chronicles of Dissent. Actually, I first heard the material starting in the mid-1980s, listening to Barsamian’s cassette tapes of interviews…
Those Blasts of a Trumpet
I’ve recently finished reading Robert Richardson’s engrossing biography, Emerson: The Mind on Fire. The author regularly highlights the exuberant reading Emerson did throughout his life. Robertson not only identifies authors and titles of what Emerson…
“Be in Love with Yr Life” — A Online Summer Writing Course with The Book of Mev*
From time to time I’ve learned how some readers of The Book of Mev recognize themselves in Mev Puleo’s words, say, from her letters and journals. They remind of the French novelist Marcel Proust, who…
Lobbyist for Tenderness
I first read Allen Ginsberg’s City Lights paperback Howl and Other Poems late one autumn night 1980 with friends at the White Castle at the corner of Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway. A few months…
Seeing the World/1 [from The Book of Mev]
The second week of that Summer Program at Maryknoll, Mev made an announcement after one of the morning sessions that she was going to present some of her photographs in a slideshow/meditation on a night…
The Good News, 3.2.2017
The Good News is…Andrew Wimmer just invested in a Fuji camera, and this means he will he honing his eye-craft, which I am sure will bring joy, insight, and provocation to others. One day may…
Sempre Avanti
Sempre avanti, Italian. “Always keep moving forward.” I first learned this expression from Helena, a friend who typically signed off her letters with this expression, or else with Coraggio. A historian and a convert to…
Worth Reading
Dear Irina, Here are some books that may speak to a few of your questions, interests, and enthusiasms. I’ll send more later on if you want…. Mark Daniel Berrigan, Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift…
Valentine Card, 1993
Dearest partner, travel mate, sister quester, blessed one, sage-in-the-making, charmer, visionary, soul-sharer, teacher, palsy-walsy chum, chef extraordinaire, Florence Nightingale, Penny Lernoux, four years old, perennial 20 year old, tough as nails, soft as silk, cherished…