From the book jacket: “Middle Passages examines more than two centuries of African American journeys to Africa, from the arrival of the first colonists in Sierra Leone and Liberia to the heritage tourism of our own time. The book’s subjects include many of the central figures in American intellectural, political, and artistic life–Martin Delany, Langston…
Lake County Artists and Writers gathered at Redbud Library in Clearlake to celbrate International Women’s Day. Lake County Poet Laureate, who hosted our event, invited us to share creative work that honored women we admire. I read a series of poems from my 2006 book Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary honoring three generations of women in…
If you go to www.bloggingauthors.com, you can hear these five recordings on “Fascinating Author Podcasts”: 1. Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary 2. Why I Wrote a Book 3. Praising Mother 4. Memento Mori: Life and Death, Moment by Moment 5. P.O.D. Quality Control I enjoyed making these recordings and hope you’ll enjoy listening to them.
An autobiographical novel about a geezer who talks to himself, eats roadkill, and would like to overthrow the government. We call Steve Bartholomew “Bart” in these parts. Yesterday he presented his book to our Lake County reading and writing community at Watershed Books in Lakeport. I’m telling you, when we put on a party here,…
GRACE for four generations of Graces Amazing, isn’t it, grace? Praising. Blessing. Raising hearts lifted in thanks. How sweet the sound. The Greeks named three Graces. Joy. Charm. Beauty. Grace, a Lost and Found Department. Finding our ground within the surround sound Grace cares. Cares for. Cares about. Searches out the heart of the other….
“When you see the world on tilt rather than straight on, then you see the humor in the situation.” –Daniel Holland For years Daniel Holland, my sweetheart, dreamed of an old-fashioned comedy variety review show for Lake County, here in Northern California. My slogan is, “If you can dream, you can do.” In 2004, then,…
My father wrote this poem for my mother, Ruth Evelyn Johnston Thompson after her death May 1, 2006. You can read more about my mother in “Sweet Little Dove” under “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” on this website. by Erwin A. Thompson For Ruth, my faithful partner of the trail for almost sixty-four years. From youth’s…
“Can I be honest with you?” These words jumped off the computer screen at me in a recent email and I thought, “Ooooooo, no. Nope. I can live my life without anyone ever being honest with me, by announcing they are about to by honest, ever again.” Because that usually means license to kill the spirit…the…
I can’t get you out of my head…”Going out of my head….over you.” Wily words, I’ve been writing you in my head, what good does that do? If you’ve been trotting around with a head full of words and wondering how to transfer these onto paper, here are a few tips. Good work habits help…
Sell your services to the company store, but not your soul. In company towns, there was always a company store selling goods at high prices and always willing to extend credit to get you more deply mired in their debt. In our service-oriented world, the company store takes on a different, more psychological character of…