Category: Uncategorized

  • Best Laid Plans (the more things change. . .)

    Long ago, when I was a department head, I kept my sanity (more or less) by writing satire in the early mornings, as a way to inoculate myself against the day ahead. One result was BEST LAID PLANS, which some of you may have read when The Fantasist published it a few years ago. I had thoughts…

  • Recording of “Misdirection” from The Common

    The cover’s scrambled cassette tape is the perfect lead in, as I remember so many bus rides listening to so many tapes mixed by other passengers, bus drivers, hangers on. Come along on a family hiking trip in the páramo, the upland spanning the Colombian border, in my Issue 21 story “Misdirection.” Click to hear a new…

  • Resolution

     I don’t know if I’m afraid of heights, or afraid of getting down from heights–of not getting down–but when the guide said, it looks like rain, let’s start on the roof, I followed her up. Not wanting to miss anything, ready to add to my photo collection, eager to take in every nook and cranny…

  • Snowmelt Drum Kit

    Barely snow, just enough for a two-hour school delay, ice encasing twigs and needles, smooth and clear and full around as if dipped, as even as a candy-maker’s dream, no Achilles’ heel or naked shortbread where anyone held on, only light, a sense of depth and sparkle, even on a dark day. The lowest branch…

  • Walking the West Highland Way

    Having enjoyed and endured twenty-five years of each other’s company in marriage, we thought it was time for a treat and rewarded ourselves with a trip to Scotland and a walk on the West Highland Way with our kids. I wanted one of those luxurious hikes where you spend the night at a cozy inn…

  • Exchange Visits

    My mother and my daughter left this week on a two-week trip to Germany, which has me remembering my own trip to Germany with my Oma. I was a year younger than my daughter is now, a high school junior rather than a recent graduate. The first part of the trip was a school trip–our…

  • What I’m reading (January)

    La Virgen Cabeza, by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (what a great name, no?). One of the writers who leapt to mind for her when I asked Angélica Gorodsicher last October, “who else should I read?” A striking, unexpected voice, just enough left unexplained, left for the reader to assemble. Fast moving, abrasive yet sympathetic. And having…

  • Summer Reading (I)

     Not stacked in order. But summer’s just started, so I’ve just started reading. First Tumba de jaguares. This is my next translation, so this is a re-read. Here are the first two sentences: “Soñé que estaba en el cielo. No en El Cielo paraíso de almas bienaventuradas sino en el cielo, ese ¿élitro? azul celeste que oficialmente nos cubre, tanto para religiones…

  • Cardinal Reflections

    It’s a firebird, or maybe a flower. I was out cutting flowers early this morning, six a.m. and muggy in a way it seldom is in Oregon, or maybe my hurry just made it seem warm. And then I was looking for pictures of cardinals, and found instead reflected light on wood. Of course, there…

  • And then when I wasn’t looking. . .

    The prunes tree burst into bloom. Fat buds on Saturday, full blossoms on Thursday. With bees.