Jun 17, 2019
As a very small child, I thought nobody had grandparents. I have an early memory of a TV special about what I now know to be the mythical practice of senicide in Japan: an elderly woman carried to a desolate mountaintop in winter by her son, and left there to die. I...
Sep 3, 2014
When I teach, just like in other parts of my life, I tend to talk. When there’s a natural catastrophe, a bomb or nuclear explosion goes off, or someone famous dies of old age or heroin or hanging, I’m likely to talk about it in class. Death (especially)...
Sep 3, 2012
Often, life seems to be at a standstill for a long, long time. and then change comes quickly, unexpected. In the summer heat, it’s hard to imagine the turning of the season, but there it is, on a single sheet with a big eye that sees all. This leaf fell for me...
Aug 15, 2011
Some people hibernate in the winter. I am largely a cave-dwelling creature in Washington’s swampy summer. I get bear-like, moving as little as possible. Oh, I do my yoga most days, maybe hoop to something on Netflix in the cool of my living room. (Since I last...
Mar 1, 2011
I had my proverbial panties bunched up in knots for a couple weeks around Some Thing that is not new and has not shifted in any major or even unexpected way. I do not want to get confessional about what this Thing might be, only say that I know intellectually and...
Feb 14, 2011
My wallet got stolen out of my purse last Monday evening, most likely between classes at the yoga studio I teach at twice a week. I went early to take a class before teaching one. I actually didn’t even realize that anything was amiss until an early morning...