IN THE BEGINNING, there wasn’t a thing Margaret owned, a phrase she spoke, or a gesture she tossed off that I did not want as my own. But smooth-haired, blue-eyed, skim-milk-skinned, even visually she … [Read more...] about Book Giveaway and a Little Insight Into the Roach Sisters
Farewell to a Fond Friend
MY LITTLE TILLER is out by the trash. Just shy of its 24th year in service, it finally exhausted itself. It cannot be coaxed back to tear its way even one more time through my rocky garden. The kind … [Read more...] about Farewell to a Fond Friend
Rules My Mother Taught Me
MY MOTHER HAD a few rules for living, one or two of which I still call into play on a daily basis. Others are those I have heard other mothers repeat, like not wearing white after Labor Day and how … [Read more...] about Rules My Mother Taught Me
Writing Memoir: Father’s Day
FAMILIES, LIKE NATIONS, have their own languages. We talk, we colloquialize ourselves into clans whose simplest intimacies are nicknames and dog names and things we shout at an ump. … [Read more...] about Writing Memoir: Father’s Day
Writing Memoir: When Imaginary Friends Come to Dinner
PASSOVER IS HERE, and we look forward to our yearly Seder, blended as we will be into another family’s gracious celebration. It’s easier these days since there are only three of us to accommodate at … [Read more...] about Writing Memoir: When Imaginary Friends Come to Dinner
Memoir Without a Net: Telling a Tale on the Radio
I'VE NEVER BEFORE TOLD A PIECE of memoir without notes, or not reading from a manuscript. At least not in public. Of course, I've told stories at the dinner table, in the car, and over the phone, but … [Read more...] about Memoir Without a Net: Telling a Tale on the Radio
