Mexican Masks
Those years we visited Isla Mujeres every February, we coveted Mexican masks like bits of the sun and moon–a tiny scrap worth more than gold to take home. My husband always bought Mexican beer the day before we caught the … Continued
She Wanted to Be a Doctor
You could probably count to fifty the number of American women who became doctors until the 1960s. Let’s imagine it’s 1930. My cousin Eleonora was 13. Her youngest sister Sadie had fallen off a stone wall–this was Pittsburgh with high … Continued
Boy Soldiers
War fascinates me–maybe by studying it elsewhere, I hope to keep it away from here. Yet, there’s more to it: war with its upheaval, its extremes of fear, heroism, death, destruction, hope and camaraderie shows the human condition at its … Continued
Moby Dick’s Town
Well, not really. Moby Dick was the whale chased by the Pequod out of Nantucket. I don’t mean Nantucket, though it figures in these notes, but the mainland town that in the 1830s, 40s, 50s, fitted out the most whaling … Continued
Perfect Dragonfly, Perfect Poets
Even if you’re born, bred and live in the Cities (here in Minnesota that means the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/Saint Paul), you have a very good chance of being seduced by prairies. Heading out of the western suburbs, the prairies … Continued
I heard myself say…
We were sitting around in our pajamas, this attire requested by the three-year-old birthday boy. He loves pjs. In fact he wanted pink pjs, in his three-year-old glory, but his older brother whom I’m ready to call the “jock” protested … Continued
Stopping by Woods
Robert Frost’s poem with these three words in its title leads us into sudden contemplation of cold, deep snow, and of a woods with its heavy, silent magic lived so separate from us. Even our word woods, used in the … Continued
Prison, Anyone?
Margotlog: Prison, Anyone? Back up to opportunity, and even further to need: nobody needs to tell us that the economy is sluggish at best and many people are without work. Fast forward to a few days ago, driving on the … Continued
The Phoenix – La Fenice
I vaguely remember when Venice’s historic opera house burned in 1996, but now listening to John Berendt’s The City of Falling Angels, I find the story brought to life with all the shock, mess, and drama one would expect to … Continued