100 Memoirs

When Stuart and I saw Toy Story 3, I remembered one of our more delightful experiences while in Prague last year–a trip to the Toy Museum at the base of the huge castle in Prague, Czech Republic. At the time we visited, the museum displayed an amazing collection of Barbie dolls in honor of her [...]

 I met Marla Miller at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference in 2007. She taught the marketing workshop which came highly recommended. She has a no-nonsense style of teaching and interviewing that I respect and enjoy. I took the class again in 2008. We became Facebook friends last year. Marla posts essays she writes for More Magazine, [...]

I love where I live. You may have read about my neighborhood here and about one special neighbor Priya, who moved to Texas, much to our sorrow. Michigan Public Radio stations have been running a regular series called “3 Things” since January of this year.  Lots of people have offered suggestions for a way to fix Michigan, [...]

In April of this year poet Mark Nepo and I co-facilitated a writer’s retreat that brought 16 wonderful writers to the Fetzer Institute where we both work. The experience profoundly affected all of us, and we continue to stay in touch with each other. Soon we will have edited video interviews which I will share here.  In [...]

Last weekend three of my college friends and I met in the beautiful home of my friend Tina in Virginia. We first spied each other in September, 1966, when we played hookey from college orientation sessions and walked to the local pizza shop instead. We have remained in each other’s lives ever since. Tina is [...]

This has been quite a year for our family! Just nine months ago, we were celebrating our son Anthony’s wedding to Chelsea in Manhattan. I wrote about the toast we gave at that wedding then. Yesterday, I posted the blessings Stuart and I offered to Kate and Nik in their Pittsburgh wedding. Today, the wedding [...]

Yesterday our only daughter became a bride and wife. Today is Mother’s Day. Need I tell you that my heart was full this morning, even before Stuart placed a handwritten card and a cup of Starbucks coffee on the bedstand and even before the last event of the wedding–brunch with the two families and the wedding [...]

A few weeks ago Stuart and I were visited by a former student of mine, now a wife and mother who spent many years living in Indonesia, which is her husband’s home. Karin will soon move to Bangladesh, where her husband will be working for Habitat for Humanity, and she hopes to continue online work for her master’s [...]

When Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe met for the first time, the President allegedly said, “So you’re the little lady who started this great war!” When it comes to 21′st century memoir, one can make the case that Mary Karr started the publishing phenom we now refer to as “the age of memoir.” Her The [...]

The Dutch know how to grow tulips–and writers! Every two years the good folks at Calvin College put on a Festival of Faith and Writing that attracts thousands of readers and hundreds of writers. And what a good time we have! This year’s headliners included Wally Lamb, Richard Rodriguez, Parker Palmer, Eugene Peterson, and Mary [...]