Louise Foerster Dec 19 Photo by Stéphane Juban on Unsplash What if you don’t have to find anyone, anything? That would blow up ideas about the mission, the goal, the ways to find these amazing warm and welcoming people, your kin of the soul, the ones you’ve been seeking ever since you knew there was… Continue reading Gathering My Tribe
Photo by Braydon Anderson on Unsplash We live social contracts with one another. The contracts are marvelously powerful, convincing us that what we see is exactly as things are. They smooth the way, allow us to conduct our business, go our merry way. Except when they don’t work. That person driving 45 miles an hour in… Continue reading See the Person in Front of You, Not the Person You Expect
How does tracking time change time? Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash When you’re seven, technology is power. In that time, when you were seven with a watch on your wrist, you were special. My watch was a Timex, black velvet band, wise round face rimmed with gold, tiny silver numbers and bossy hands that kept… Continue reading A Question From a Happy Wanderer
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash By Sunday, we were exhausted — overfull and overstimulated and still overjoyed to be in the company of writers. The annual Writer’s Digest Conference is held over an August weekend in New York City. While there are many events throughout the year focusing on particular genres and forms of writing such as novels,… Continue reading In the Company of Writers
Photo by Jasmine Waheed on Unsplash We lost her precipitously and slowly — some days she was here with us, other days in her elsewhere, a forgetful, amiable, smiling person with a different connection to reality. For our very young children, we explained that she was like a forgetful bear, to be gentle, patient, and kind. He went… Continue reading Last Words
Photo from pixabay on pexels.com I never heard whether I had been accepted to the university — but went anyway. Two years later, I walked out with a diploma, a job, resilience, and clear-sighted, wider perspective of what was possible for me and my life. That was yesterday’s post “Give Yourself an Acceptance Letter.” One reader responded… Continue reading Saying Yes Before the Future Said No
Author Photo, Winter 2017, End of Day Dorothea Brande’s declaration about how to live awake was first published in 1936. In her book Wake Up and Live! she described the impact that this principle had on her life and on the life of others who used it. Brande is quick to explain that she did not… Continue reading Act As If It Were Impossible to Fail
In her later years, lost in a fog of dementia confusion, my mother was her own sweet self, smiling and eager to help in the kitchen, to play with the baby, to admire the new curtains. One Easter Sunday, as I bustled harried in my kitchen, she walked in, asked if she could do anything,… Continue reading Mother Questions
A writer forwarded a link to Tom Colicchio’s letter to chefs which ultimately led me to Micheline Maynard’s “My Open Letter to Tom Colicchio and Every Other Guy in the Restaurant Business.” I clapped for both, sent enthusiastic responses to both pieces, heard back from Maynard: “Thanks — have you tried anything new in particular?” I stammered… Continue reading Where Everybody Knows Your Name
“You have to know what to see.” — Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 2, Episode 14) The machine warned me that PC was nearing the end of its life. Dangerously close to the end, it muttered under its breath. It had been blazing this message at me for at least…well, for a while. Change ink cartridge… Continue reading Know What To See
Louise Foerster 