Last Friday, at the Look At Me opening at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, ten veterans read their writing in front of an audience of 75. No two stories were the same–and yet all of the stories were familiar in some way. By naming their specific experiences of the world, they challenged any external…
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Community is the coming together of individuals “who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to rejoice together, mourn together and to delight in each other and make others’ conditions our own.” If I have used this…
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The Blog Tour is here! Thanks to Mary Craig for inviting me on this little adventure. Writing can be an isolating endeavor and this is a nice way around that. I met Mary during one of the most pivotal times in my life. I had gone to the Writers at Work Conference in Alta, Utah–knowing…
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I spent the weekend seeking out normal–an elusive concept I had proudly let go of. I watched movies I’ve watched before (that’s right, I watched movies), I roasted a chicken, sat by the pool. Last week was the sort that knocks everything askew–it was as if the tripod my worldview balances on lost a screw…
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This week when I mentioned my father’s upcoming 3 year death anniversary, my therapist (that’s right, I’m not only the president if the Tell-Your-Therapist Club, I’m a client) asked me if it feels any different–any easier–this year. I wanted to say yes. I almost did say yes. But rule #1 in The Club is: Don’t…
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“There were no particular questions that I asked myself: there were no special objects upon which I directed my mind: there was only a formless and aimless intellectual disturbance, as if I were wrestling with a fog. I know now that this is what always happens when I am in the early stages of…
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My children and I do not have the luxury of living together all the time. Sometimes they live with their father, sometimes they live with me. For Spring break, they spent a week with me and then a week with their father. By the end of our week together, we had gotten into a really…
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Your browser does not support the video tag I’m working on a couple of posts (by which I mean I’m thinking about a couple of things). But in the meanwhile…
Closing up for the night and noticed this life unfolding on the table: playing cards angry dinosaurs paper swords plastic daggers nail polish advil and laughing Buddha. The essence of our household. Nothing is perfect, but everything is wonderful. I posted the above a week ago. Remember that movie “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”…
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Sometimes I’m unreasonably pissed off. Does that happen to you? Never mind, I’m not asking. I know it does. Don’t deny it. Some people are better at disguising it, sometimes we are better at holding it together than others. But other times…well, ask my kids about other times. Today’s prompt is about looking at those…
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