I’m trying not to be too hard on myself—as I revisit my New Year’s Resolutions for 2020, I’m saddened by how few items on the list I completed. Of course, no one could have predicted the chaos and uproar the Coronavirus pandemic brought with it. With that in […]
Here’s to another year of celebrating poetry! 2020 was another amazing year for poetry. Each one of the books I reviewed for Sticks & Stones moved me, from Abby E. Murray’s poignant descriptions of being an army wife to Nicole Stellon O’Donnell’s depictions of life as a teacher […]
I’ve always had small gardens, determined by the size of my backyard and the amount of sunlight it received. Some years ago, I discovered Mel Bartholomew’s book Square Foot Gardening, which I’ve used ever since. In square foot gardening, you divide your garden space into 12-inch squares, and then […]
I’ve been struck by the terminology of the Covid-19 pandemic: Essential workers. Stay home stay safe. Shelter-in-place. Masks, ventilators, hand sanitizer. Tests, tracking, social distancing. Working from home. Zoom. Virtual graduations, weddings, birthday parties. Isolation. None of these words and phrases comes close to describing the state of […]
Yesterday, I decided to play The Bookstore Game at home. Due to Oregon’s coronavirus shelter-in-place order, I haven’t been to an actual bookstore or library since March 10, when Claire Graman and I gave our presentation for Women’s History Month at the Eugene Public Library. I realize that […]
I woke up at 3:00 am thinking about bees (it’s one day before my 60th birthday, and I still can’t sleep through the night). The day before, my son and I were sitting in the garden when a swarm of bees flew over our heads and settled in a […]
Like everyone else on Planet Earth, the coronavirus landed in my life like a bomb. My months-long preparations for Women’s History Month went poof. Instead, I was now fretting about the availability of bread and toilet paper. In a matter of a few days, life as we knew […]
Let’s say, just for the fun of it, that you were left alone on some tropical island with an unknown amount of time ahead of you. Luckily, having anticipated just this emergency, you had the foresight to pack twenty books that would consume the hours while you await […]
Happy New Year’s Day 2020! I decided to make a list of things I’d like to accomplish in my writing life this year. I’ll revisit the list in December and see how I did. Erica’s 2020 New Year’s Resolutions: Finish something big by the end of 2020. I […]
Here’s to another year of celebrating poetry! Each one of the books I reviewed in 2019 moved me in unique and unforeseen ways, from Shaindel Beers’ harrowing escape from an abusive marriage to Cynthia Anderson’s evocative descriptions of the Mojave Desert. These books went with me on […]
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