The other night during dinner, my family and I were having a conversation about plans, and my son threw a question to me: What was your dream? The question startled me, and I stumbled. Had I had any dreams at all at his age? He gives the impression that he sees his goals very clearly, … Continue reading Dreams
In bios, we list all the ways we might seem valuable: the places we've studied, degrees we've earned, teachers who've chosen us to mentor; the magazines and journals where people in positions of editorial authority have considered the fruits of our labor worthwhile; the whole books of ours accepted for publication, the new books we're … Continue reading Third Person
As a writer of creative nonfiction, it’s imperative that I think about my own role in anything I write. Am I a participant or an observer? Or am I writing from the “hazy territory between insider and outsider perspectives,” as Gabe Montesanti describes in her essay “Inside, Outside, In Between” (Creative Nonfiction, issue 72). This … Continue reading How Not To Write About Racism
My husband and I have made three homes together after living with others in other places. To make a home with another requires that you decide together what constitutes home itself. We talked about where we would prefer to live (someplace warm close to water) and where we would never willingly go (those square states … Continue reading What Makes Home
These quarantine months for me have been slow, filled with quiet, sprinkled with fear. I make no plans because what even is a plan when no reliable future can be predicted? This is a new way of living, turned inward, simplified. We are changing without meaning to. We are noticing small things, and we are … Continue reading These Days
Karen Pickell: Between 