Humans, even nomads, are settlers at heart. We want a place to come home to, a hearth to warm our hands around, and other humans to love us. Marj Casswell in “A Place to Come Home To” tells a story of these ordinary yearnings and the high price they exact from us. In the opening…
Our talk and habits change, As we roll the World around. No dif’rence how things really are, It’s just how good they sound! We have “detention centers” For those who can’t quite raise their bail. Sounds pretty good, we used to say: “They spent the night in jail!” The toilets all are “rest rooms,” now…
Over the Labor Day weekend I offered a service at the First Unitarian Church in Alton, Illinois, on the corner of 3rd and Alby. This was my sister Julia Ann Thompson’s church and my cousin Irene Riehl’s church before her. Now it is the church of my niece and her husband and their daughters. My…
Last night I went to my first St. Louis party. It’s the first party I’ve attended since the going away party I threw for myself in Lake County in Northern California at the end of June. This felt like a welcome home party. This party felt like a welcome to the village. Freida L. Wheaton…
“Art is the river that runs through my life. I drink from it as often as I can to refresh myself.” ~Loretta Marvel~
When I called my father this morning to hear his report from yesterday, he told me about several work and business accomplishments…and ended with a fun story about his playdate with an 8-year-old friend who lives down the hill from him. She loves to play with my father. At 91, he still has that spark,…
This spring my story “Driving Lessons” won Bronze Award for Family Travel in the First Annual Solas Awards sponsored by Travelers Tales. If you missed “Driving Lessons” the first time, read it on the Travelers Tale site by clicking here for “Janet Riehl’s Flying Carpet Tales”. Their tagline for the story is “The lessons of…
A metrolink ride from the St. Louis airport and a longish walk with my luggage took me back to my apartment around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, shifting from the Southwest to the Midwest. My homecoming was like an enjammed rhyme in a poem with news of a friend in the hospital for heart surgery and…
I’m flying home to St. Louis today, heart filled with the Southwest. I’ve been able to visit dear friends from New Mexico days, spend time with my 96-year-old Cousin Lyle, and travel to a new part of New Mexico (Mountainaire) and make new friends as part of the poetry workshop and the Poets & Writers…
Here are some learnings that come from the conclusion of Nancy Connally’s Critiquing Case Study: For those giving feedback: 1) Critique the story, not the person. 2) Critique the story on the page that person is writing, not the story in your head that you want written. For those receiving feedback: 3) Have the intestinal…