Tag Archives: father
He’s at the opposite pole from where I am
He’s the first hand raised in the audience and wants to know why I think Canada is so much more tolerant of gay people than the United States. Afterward, he’s the first to have his book signed. “I want you to know,” he says, “that … Read more
Posted in Giraffe People, Writing
Tagged adventure, art, artist, boundaries, character, control, father, god, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, joy, kid, love, marriage, marriage equality, memory, mindfulness, power, queer, relationships, safe, savor, self, simple, story, women, Writing
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Mothering
I was thinking this morning about the evolution of the mother figure in my novels. In Red Audrey, the mother has mental health issues and ultimately commits suicide when Jane is a child. In Field Guide, the mothers run the gamut from cruelty to tenderness, … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged adventure, art, artist, boundaries, brokenness, character, control, father, field guide, giraffe people, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, joy, love, may sarton, memory, mindfulness, mother, power, red audrey, relationships, savor, self, shame, simple, story, women, Writing
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Touchy
I don’t feel loved if you don’t touch me. I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but it’s true. I read a Psychology Today article about bonding — about how romantic bonding has the same fundamentals as infant/parent bonding. I hadn’t thought that through … Read more
Baby diapers
I was a single parent for a long time. Much longer than I wanted to be. And also while I was married. My being a single parent doesn’t have anything to do with gun control. Nothing. There is no correlation there at all. Whatsofuckingever.
And … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged adventure, boundaries, brokenness, character, control, debates, father, gender, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, joy, kid, lesbian, love, marriage, marriage equality, marriage project, mary, mindfulness, mother, political douchery, power, presidential, queer, relationships, safe, savor, self, simple, story, women, Writing
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Meaning
The difficult thing about mean people is that sometimes they really love you. I mean really. That in one breath they say the kindest, most insightful thing, and in the next they are so cutting that you can hardly stand upright. And one could argue … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged boundaries, brokenness, character, check your moral certitude, control, father, grace, heartbreak, injury, lesbian, love, masochism, memory, mindfulness, power, queer, relationships, safe, self, shame, simple, story, women, Writing
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Bloody
Freshman year I got busted for carving my name into the ledge above the kitchen sink. Vandalism, my parents called it. I scrawled my name everywhere. On the slide in the park, painted on the bus stop, cut into trees. I’d leave this base, and … Read more
Parent
Working in other people’s houses can be odd. I’ve worked in home offices with loaded firearms in easy reach. With bullets in the desk drawer. With a toddler repeatedly coming in to sit on my lap and color the invoices. With teens standing around in … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged bookkeeping, boundaries, brokenness, control, father, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, kid, love, memory, mindfulness, mother, power, relationships, safe, self, shame, simple, story, women, Writing
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Empty
I don’t like my parents. For a long time, I could keep myself quiet. I let them call my girlfriends friends. I let them treat my relationships as illegitimate because they were struggling so hard. I let them be mean.
Evangelical Christians are stuck. … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged boundaries, brokenness, character, control, evangelical, father, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, kid, lesbian, love, mary, memory, mindfulness, mother, power, queer, relationships, safe, self, shame, simple, sing, story, women, Writing
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Call It Courage
I don’t remember the details anymore. A boy was kicked off his island for cowardice and forced to sail away in a canoe with his weird little dog. The dog was missing a leg or something. I’m pretty sure. The boy had a knife. And … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged adventure, Armstrong Sperry, art, artist, brokenness, Call It Courage, character, control, father, Gift of Fear, grace, grief, heart, heartbreak, injury, kid, memory, mindfulness, power, relationships, safe, savor, self, simple, story, women, Writing
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Golem
We were talking about emotional affairs with exes yesterday, about how they can exist whether or not they’re reciprocated, about how they can be entirely one-sided. And then I realized we were talking about golems. About fabricating a stand-in. I created this thing as a … Read more
Posted in Writing
Tagged boundaries, control, father, golem, grief, heartbreak, injury, memory, mindfulness, power, relationships, savor, self, shame, shape, simple, story, women, Writing
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