Gentle reader, I wrote you a story. *** It is two o’clock in the afternoon. The mailman revs his engine and moves on to the next house. The neighbor’s dog finally stops barking and the sunlight leaves shadows under the trees in the front yard. A woman sits on the thick pine boards of her kitchen table. … Continue reading Swan Children: May Issue
Category: Art
I have been waiting impatiently for this day to come, and now it’s here and I can finally tell you what I’ve been working on for the past two months. Introducing! The Swan Children: Art Without Apologies. The Swan Children is a bimonthly online art gallery and magazine founded to curate and showcase the creative work produced by … Continue reading Introducing: The Swan Children
In which I will probably sound a lot like Lauren Dubinsky, who is usually right about this stuff. The credits were rolling on the Disney princess movie. I was in a swoony-moony eight-year-old's post-Disney euphoria, soaking up the soundtrack swelling as I leaned back on my elbows on the living room carpet. I don't remember … Continue reading “Follow your heart”
With the divorce and moving out on my own [finally!], I'm trying to rebuild my savings and start teaching again. I love teaching, but put it aside during college to pursue English and editing. Now that I'm not constantly trying to fight for mental clarity through family drama or marital tension, I can do things … Continue reading Story Writing Workshop for Photographers
Jennifer wants to thank her well-wishers, so she made this for everyone.
I feel like I should have posted more this week. I know I wanted to write another Immodesty Rail post, and I wanted to tell you about the author readings and book signings I've been to this last month (Lorin Stein, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins). But it's been an exhausting week, and some people took … Continue reading Commonplace Links 11/9
Have you heard of a "commonplace book"? It's an old idea, and has been most recently resurrected by hipsters bearing Moleskines. Basically, it's a notebook full of accumulated everyday notes - your shopping list, a quote from the book you're reading, the recipe copied from your mom's cookbook, a sketch from the metro of the … Continue reading Commonplace Links
Commuting 1.5 hours each way every day for a month has given me new respect for career addicts and long-distance commuters. It's also given me new respect for working moms--how do they find time to be moms, let alone make dinner and do the laundry and dishes and have 20 minutes of downtime before bed? With … Continue reading Hot and Sticky: Studio Apartment, Pinterest, and Paint
Last night, hit by both "my brain is flat-lining after a long day" and an absurd level of contentment--despite running into the awkward moment earlier in the evening at the grocery store checkout when my debit card declined a $5 transaction and I was scrounging for pennies in my change purse [we're okay, it was just coincidental … Continue reading Nudes, Modesty, and the Pink Elephant Principle
This is now hanging on my kitchen wall, in between the copper-tiled backsplash by the stove and my apron hook. I've been hankering, no, craving, an icon in my home for over a year now, since I first saw icons in a home of one of my professors (who happens to be Orthodox). This family … Continue reading The Good Shepherd