It’s that time of year when books are celebrated. Here are three upcoming bookfairs. Currently underway is the Evanston Literary Festival, which started May 4 and goes through May 14. Upcoming events include Zoe Zolbrod tonight at Evanston Public Library to launch the tour for her new book The Telling, just out from Curbside Splendor. There are also readings by Laura Kasischke (May 11)and Alexander Chee (May 12) and a program called “Writing the Next Chapter” on Friday, … [Read more...]
Poem for my mother
August 1999: Light is a measure of time Scientists have found the oldest point in the universe: a galaxy filled with new stars, and all day long I’ve been thinking about my mother. How long it has been since the nun came to fetch me from class so I could wait for my brother to take me home, even though I was in trouble for using CliffNotes in my Macbeth paper. I practiced driving on the way, Jack tossed the keys to me, figuring, perhaps, concentration would hold … [Read more...]
Sustaining beauty
I don’t remember paying much attention to sunrises and sunsets in my youth. I suspect it is a factor of aging that makes me notice these things now. No doubt I have grown more sentimental with the years. Perhaps also it is modern times that make me more appreciative of nature. After all I don’t want to turn on the news and sometimes I am ashamed to be human. Last evening the light of the setting sun drew me outside. I never tire of the trees behind my house, stalwart … [Read more...]
Mental Health Awareness: how to contribute to the conversation
Happy May! Hope Spring is finding you; here in Chicago we’ve had some warm days and some very gray days. On the subject of gray days, did you know the suicide rate in the US has surged? The April 22 edition of the Chicago Tribune reports, “The U.S. suicide rate has increased sharply since the turn of the century, led by an even greater rise among middle-aged white people, particularly women, according to federal data released Friday.” May is Mental Health Awareness … [Read more...]
Be good and be quiet?
I’ve been thinking about bragging. These days we call it promotion. Social media is thick with it. Bragging used to be frowned upon, but it doesn’t seem to be that way so much anymore. I get it. I try to promote Solace in So Many Words and my writing. That’s professional promotion that’s seems required these days when we each have a persona we present to the world. But let’s not get into the branding of Ellen Wade Beals--ouch. How about when it comes to personal … [Read more...]
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