Physical pain is something most of us don’t like to talk about in public, or even among friends and family. I mean, seriously, who wants to be that person? Most people wouldn’t believe you anyway if you told them you hurt pretty much all the time, and it’s not easy to brace against the look … Continue reading Pain Is NOT an Identity
Talking to a stranger about ourselves can (sometimes) be fun at a party or on a first date; cathartic when the stranger is receptive or being paid to listen; marginally OK/not OK standing in line at the grocery store; and downright disconcerting when the inquiry is particularly personal and your life kinda sorta depends on … Continue reading Laid Bare By a Questionnaire
It’s early afternoon, and I write this propped up in my bed, listening to it rain…again…with my little dog Zuzu curled up at my side. Next to her is my tablet, in case I want to read or watch a show; my latest journal, which has some angry entries of late; my phone; and the … Continue reading There Is Always an Otherwise
I was born in Minneapolis in 1963, when the tallest building in Minnesota was still the Foshay Tower; Harmon Killebrew and the Twins, and Fran Tarkenton and the Vikings played ball at Metropolitan Stadium; the Guthrie Theater opened; and Hubert Humphrey was a senator. Several famous people share my birth year: Johnny Depp, Tori Amos, … Continue reading “Vietnam Coffee Cans” and Other Childhood Memories
Last weekend, my daughter and son-in-law held their annual/sometimes semi-annual garage sale. Several of us participate, friends and family alike, and at some point alcohol gets involved. We can never predict what will sell, and we’re pretty laid back (some might say lousy) hagglers. But we always have a good time, rain or shine, and … Continue reading “Will Garage Sale for Salmon”
Have you ever put on your spring jacket after a long winter and found a $5 bill in the pocket? Or looked in the glove box for a pair of sunglasses and found a Hershey Kiss? That’s Past Us taking care of Present Us. We don’t plan those little surprises; they just work out that … Continue reading Sometimes We’re Our Own Guardian Angels
It was the week that nothing I planned got done, and instead, I earned a degree in Phone Scams 101. Since Tuesday, I’ve been on the phone with bankers and doctors and computer experts and a plethora of other people to help get back the $9,500 phone scammers stole from my brother, a vulnerable adult … Continue reading A Wake-Up (Scam) Call
Chelsea Handler has made me gasp in disbelief (“OMG, did she just SAY that out loud?”) and laugh until I cry. But never has anything she’s written or said made me cry cry, as in, real tears of sorrow. On Monday, Handler was on the NPR show Here and Now promoting her new book, Life … Continue reading Chelsea Handler Made Me…Cry?
How this happened, I don’t know, but I’d never heard of “thin places” before this morning. (And I’m not talking about skinny.) I was listening to Nikki Mirghafori’s weekly Happy Hour guided meditation. The topic was thin places. As she was explaining what it is, I started to tear up, realizing that I was in … Continue reading Thin Places
“When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions.” Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice, 1974 I led an eight-week poetry workshop at our county jail a … Continue reading Reading and Writing in Prison
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 