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A few paths up the same mountain
I started this blog a little more than a year ago. Would you like to know why? It’s because I had failed, for the umpteenth time, to get any of the various jobs I had applied for in my field (this time I had applied for a creative writing instructor position at a university in […]
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Someone at the other end
When we were kids, my twin sister and I loved playing with and inventing forms of communication that involved the imagination–the tin can on a string telephone, an ice cream bucket we passed between our bunks as a conveyor of notes (an email prototype). Having a twin, I never suffered for lack of a playmate, […]
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Poorly defined trail
In Banff, nearly a decade ago, I took a walk on a Sunday with a couple of other writers. At the “trailhead,” a white piece of board nailed to a makeshift post bore the words: Poorly defined trail A lovely discovery for writers off duty (as if writers ever are). I haven’t forgotten […]
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Poetry that sustains courage
I came across a two-line poem today, in an anthology I don’t remember requesting from the library (it seems strange that I should have requested it, but here it is: Leading from within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Lead, Eds. Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner). The poem encapsulates something I want to consider […]
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An answer to my own question (which is to say, a response)
I spent the morning in happy disconnection. But now I’ve heard about Newtown, Connecticut. What can be said? What except be kind. Be kind with a steely resolution. Be kind when it isn’t easy, be kind when it hurts. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to each other out there. So in answer to my […]
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Do we need art?
Do we need art? This is the question I found myself thinking about (not rhetorically) as I walked home from dropping my daughter off at preschool this morning, pushing my littlest in our chariot through the snow (we’ve gotten a lot of snow this year). One person who lives between our house and the school […]
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Poet/tries
Edmonton poet, essayist, photographer, and novelist Shawna Lemay has launched a wonderful new online poetry magazine called Canadian Poetries (can you hear the “trees,” see the “tries”?). The site includes poetry, poets writing about art, poets telling secrets about their work, and poets in conversation with one another about poetry. I was pleased to be […]
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On Gifts and the Given
It’s been ages since I’ve made time for this poor neglected blog of mine. Not that I haven’t thought about it: I have. But life, as it does, has gotten in the way. Still, I want to make space to be here every now and then, tapping out the tentative thinking that arises each day, […]
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Wild Writers Literary Festival
The New Quarterly has launched a new literary festival, the Wild Writers Literary Festival, described on the TNQ site as follows: We’re bringing in some of Canada’s most talented emerging and established writers to share their writing and expertise with readers and writers in the region, fostering a local love of literature. It will take […]
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#YEG
Here’s something new for me: a column for Avenue Edmonton. The editors asked me to contribute something for their #YEG column for the August issue, and this is what I came up with. The August issue came out on my son’s 1st birthday, hence the column’s point of entry. But I’ve been thinking about this […]