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I used to teach a theme-based composition course on the farmers’ market and the homemade food Renaissance.  Half of the required booklist is on the food manufacturing crisis; the other half poems and fiction on subjects like vegetables, flowers, nature, Adam and Eve. We watched documentaries on farming. Daily my students heard me rant on…

My husband and I have been preparing children’s clothing, toys, and furniture donations for local charities. Being on the phone with people who do this kind of work reminded me of how important it is to listen.  In his groundbreaking book “Working,” Studs Terkel taught the world a lesson on empathy:   Only when we ask…

I am honored and thrilled that my poem “Pollen: North Carolina” has been accepted for publication and will be included in the 2023 eEdition of http://PoeticaMagazine.com A heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Michal (Mitak) Mahgerefteh and poetry editors at Poetica Magazine. https://www.bennington.edu/mfa-writing/publication-news ☮️ #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity

We live in the South, and it didn’t take long before we noticed how some performed Southern and class as a way to survive. Friends from out-of-state tell me it’s not just in the South anymore. I’m not talking about people from here who see me at political gatherings and cross the room to corner…

Here is the first story I told myself about a purchase I made one day: I must not have been paying attention when my personal shopper called me to inform me the grocery store was out of my preferred brand of white sugar. Could she give me a different brand that is in stock? The…

I once taught a course, “Tell Me You Didn’t Just Say That! The Snark, The Gossip, The Liar,” and the discussions and essays considered the rights and responsibilities of upholding free speech. This theme based comp class generated meaty conversations. I asked big questions: When we say that something is in bad taste, what exactly…

I am studying Hebrew.  You’ve probably heard this before that becoming fluent in a language late in life is good for the brain’s neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning.  That’s why learning new languages comes naturally to children.  While writing the above, this vivid memory…

In the early 90s I started working as a cater waiter in New York City. One day I was working a private home job on the Upper West Side with another waiter when the client came rushing into the kitchen to find us. She spoke directly to the other waiter—I’ll call her Pam—who was much…

When I jumped back on Twitter during the pandemic years before Elon Musk scared off so many brilliant artists and writers, I heard the daily sour plea of much younger-than-me writers making a big fuss over who was and wasn’t getting published, and they made one thing very clear: they pledged in solitude to never…