Category: FreeForm

  • Cheese, comma, pictures of.

    I was having a hard day of writing earlier in the week, and I wrote (in an early draft of one of my posts), “It’s OK. If this doesn’t work out, I can just post a picture of a cheese tray or something.” Then I realised that I do, in fact, have a recent picture…

  • Poem: Liberation

    Cast off the shackles of belonging. There is no You to hide from There is only perfect knowledge of Beauty and Truth Cloaked in 7000 generations of catastrophe

  • Vaccination – Ouch

    So, here is my contribution to the Great Vaccination Debate. Although I’m not going to take a stand, and I’m not going to try to convince you of anything, so in the “debate” format, this is a dubious addition. What I am going to do is tell you a story. Here is the story of…

  • Cape Breton Chic

    And this is why I was shopping for boots: Photo credit: E.J. Burtt, potter extraordinaire.

  • On scripts, social performance, and knowing your place in the world

    “We are all born naked. The rest is drag.” Rupaul* We have these dual drives within, for Society and Self. Acceptance and Agency. We hear the messages: Strive… but not too high, or you will become vain. Succeed… within these boundaries. Find your tribe, and then stick with them. They know the ropes. But we…

  • Costuming my Life

    I spent the morning at the mall. There is no place quite so effective at bringing out my internal war over frugality (and the economy of my home) and responsibility (and the economy of the world). This is the site where these two things come into conflict. My usual solution to this conflict is to…

  • But, Why???

    I presume that any of you who have a two-year old, or who have ever had regular contact with a two-year old, are familiar with the question in the title. Why, Mommy? Why you in a rush? Why you have to go to work? Why need money? Why need to pay bills? I was out…

  • Word Wrangling

    I’m having a weird high-tech/low-tech moment. Here I am, curled up in an easy chair in front of a woodstove with a cat in my lap, and writing. But not with a pen and paper; here I am, writing on a laptop that is connected to the rest of the world only through the power…

  • Writing as a Gratitude Practice

    I walked into my own “library” last fall, before I started writing in earnest, and standing there, I was overcome with a moment of gratitude for those who have come before, and who have had the kindness to write it all down. I realized that I have before me more of the vastness of human…

  • On the Nightstand

    Yesterday was all write-y. It took three days. Today, you get a list so I have more time for the next big thing. The books on my nightstand (including the magazine rack at the bottom that became necessary for spillover): Eaarth, Bill McKibben Meditation for Beginners, Jack Kornfield Darkspell, Katharine Kerr Nelly & Caesar: Jumping,…

  • Aging, Wrinkles and True Love

    Although Sundays are not going to become Stan Rogers day, here is another. I’ve been seeing the wrinkles on my face progressing over the last few years, in a way that is becoming less forgiving every year. It used to mean that I was stressed, or dehydrated, but they are becoming my everyday companion. Here…

  • Something Scary Every Day

    I hear that you should do something that scares you every day. I don’t know who says this, but I hear it. This has been a good month for that; I started sending out freelance articles, offered a rewrite when the first one was rejected instead of wallowing in self-doubt, sent off a proposal for…