Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. Joanne Harris’ Broken Light. Both books are on my mind non-stop. They are masterful: Fabulous character arcs, great story lines, gorgeous writing. Both examine major social issues of our time…And both do it while pulling me into stories so enthralling, I lose hours of sleep each night, reading to the […]
How are you?
“Hi Shannon! How are you?” Oh, my goodness. That’s SUCH a loaded question. I mean, my heart rate seems regular. I think my blood pressure is normal. Bob’s prostate cancer recovery is going well. But I’m behind on six things on my to-do list. And while I’m almost able to do circular breathing on my […]
Celebration of Negation Part III: Six NO’s for Success
Featured image courtesy of Corbie Mitleid. Difficult. Selfish. Willful. Controlling. Close-minded. Nasty. Disagreeable. Caustic. Pig-headed. Ungrateful. Obstinate. Offensive. Annoying. Stubborn. Bastard. Bitch. There are lots of words to describe a person who chooses to say NO. I think those words used to be one of the reasons I spent too much of my […]
Celebration of Negation Part II: Yes to NO*
If your path is in any way similar to mine — maybe you have a farm, or you don’t send your kids to school, or you work for yourself… You’ve met up with negativity, incessant claims on your time (especially if you don’t go to a normal 9-5 job), unreasonable customer demands, doubters and […]
Celebration of Negation Part I: A Failed NO is a YES
For the time being, let’s hold Jack blameless. Although, he did introduce us to the cookie recipe that has caused the problem. And he did deliver the last TWO cookies….not ONE cookie…but TWO cookies, to Grammie when she asked for them at the cafe on Saturday afternoon. And he did NOT ask Saoirse and Ula […]
What to Wear
Bob and I are wedding guest list safety valves. We receive invitations, but everyone knows we don’t ever go Most weddings seem to take place on Saturdays in summer and fall, and for all but the first two years of our marriage, we’ve worked Saturdays in summer and fall. Folks do send us wedding invitations. […]
Social Media-Free Muffins
Chocolate cinnamon cappuccino. Honey fig pecan. Apricot gingerbread. I’m experimenting in the cafe kitchen the day after the surgeon general’s warning is released, proclaiming that social media may harm children and adolescents. The counters are scattered with the different add-in ingredients: cinnamon chocolate filling, diced figs infusing in milk, minced apricots and chopped candied ginger. […]
Swiping Right
“If we both joined Tinder, do you think we’d match with each other?” “No.” “Hey! You answered too fast. And what do you mean by that?” I swat Bob on the butt. We’re watching a Tinder drama play out in real-time while cooking dinner. Saoirse is dressed and ready to leave on a date. I’m […]
My Greatest Teacher
The last time I wore a cap and gown and endured a graduation ceremony was in May of 1993 to accept an associate’s degree in liberal arts. It was a ruthless calculation on my part. I wanted to spend the summer in Argentina. My grandparents would give me a check as a graduation gift if […]
The Multiplier Effect
In grad school, we couldn’t study community development without discussing the multiplier effect. An economic term, the multiplier effect is the increase in economic output that results from a capital infusion. We were taught that it’s a pretty big deal in small, locally-based economies, because of the amount of financial recirculation. That recirculation creates more […]
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