A Trip to Bishop Hill (1)
Bishop Hill Post Office These days I am itching for some serenity, probably because my family's summer schedule isn't really a schedule. As soon as I'm into a new routine, it changes again. So putting together two photo essays of my trip to Bishop Hill with my friend Barbara back in May is a good remedy. Two friends on a [...]
Rebecca McClanahan on Writing about Family
Did you have any feeling of debt to anybody? Did you feel any constraints about what you couldWith her memoir The Tribal Knot - A Memoir of Family, Community and a Century of Change, RebeccaMcClanahan did what many of us wish we would do – "do something" with all those family memorabilia and documents that are lurking in closets [...]
On Attending Memorial Services
Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, where one of the memorial services was held. Within the last two weeks, I attended the memorial services for two men in their late seventies, both of whom I knew and respected, even though I wasn't close to them. One was my former boss, the other a pillar of the community. I attended to [...]
My Grandparents’ House
The latest photo of my grandparents' former house, taken by me on my last visit in June 2009. My essay 'Thrown Out' of the Family Home was published in the Wall Street Journal's House Call section today. Back in January, when I saw their call for submissions for essays about a memorable or special home, I knew immediately that I [...]
Report from a Literary Hybrid/Book Arts Workshop
Ellen Sheffield's Book Arts Studio at Kenyon College One of my housemates at the Kenyon Writer's Workshop was Mimi Chiang, and not only did we hit it off right away, but we also had lots to talk about writing-wise since she is working on a memoir but was taking the Literary Hybrid/Books Arts class, bravely stepping out of her comfort [...]
Henrietta
Of all the gravestones I photographed on my visit to the Kenyon College Campus Cemetery, the one of Henrietta stuck in my mind. Particularly because, once I was viewing the photos on my computer, her headstone really looked very much like a torso with a head to me. Don't you feel like you're looking at the back of her head [...]