Daily Rituals: How Artists Work gives brief snapshots of the work practices of a host of writers, painters, composers, and other miscreants. I have recently started a new routine for writing, getting up at 5am to put in an hour. It's not much but it's what I can do and I know that making writing … Continue reading Of Artistic Rituals and Apologies
Month: November 2019
Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Friends, I am in a bisected emotional space, feeling contentment and frustration, happiness and sadness, fear and hope, grief and delight. I can conjure many reasons for this state but more important, I think, than understanding is sitting with it, soaking in it, letting it be what it is. Intriguingly, the universe has given me … Continue reading Magic and Change, Octavia Butler and J. K. Rowling
Happy Armistice Day
The Great War, or what has come to be known as World War I, shattered how many Westerners thought of themselves and destroyed a belief in the inarguable good of progress. During this first fully mechanized war—the first to include airplanes, tanks, and modern chemical weapons—nation states used technological advancements to decimate cities, landscapes, and … Continue reading Happy Armistice Day
Going Off Book: Memorial to a Glacier
In August, Iceland unveiled the world's first memorial to a dead glacier. Okjökull was thousands of years old but succumbed to fatal warming in less than a century. She is survived by countless sisters and brothers, all of whom face the same fate. Her memorial plaque reads, in Icelandic and English, "Ok is the first … Continue reading Going Off Book: Memorial to a Glacier
