“There are moments that cry out to be fulfilled. Like, telling someone you love them. Or giving your money away, all of it. Your heart is beating, isn't it?” Anything by the Pulitzer Prize winning and astonishing Mary Oliver is wonderful! I love Felicity and Dog Songs. … [Read more...] about Felicity

I used to have a chair in my bedroom I felt guilty about. It was stacked high with clothes I had taken off but didn’t quite know what to do with. They were’t really dirty enough to be laundered but at the same time I didn’t want to put them back with my totally clean clothes.

When we moved a couple of years ago, I was determined not to have an unkempt laundry chair. I would put everything away. Today, I keep a little round stool in my closet to sit on, like for hoisting on a pair of Spanx, … [Read more...] about House Love

This Is How It Always Is blew me away. It’s the story about a family navigating their lives with their youngest daughter who is trans. I found it enlightening and deeply moving in terms of what trans individuals and families face on their journeys.

Yet the story is also universal. It’s about acceptance and love in the face of hardship; it’s about the power of speaking the truth when the truth seems too scary; it’s about seeing our own obstacles in relation to all the other bad stuff in the … [Read more...] about This Is How It Always Is

The summer between my junior and senior year of college I did summer stock at U of I. I’ll never forget that summer. The rehearsals, the friendships, the romances, the drinking, the smoking, the late nights, the FUN. Oh to be young and have your whole life ahead of you.

When I read Ann Patchett’s book Tom Lake I was suddenly reliving my own summer and reflecting on the decisions I did and didn’t make since those heady days of youth.

In Patchett’s book, we meet a family during the pandemic. … [Read more...] about Tom Lake