The prompt for the #covidartchallenge I’m doing is Greenland. As of yesterday, even in that far away sparsely populated place they had 9 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. While I drew and painted that remote location, I listened to a TED talk on the current pandemic. Sitting alone in the wee hours of the… Read more
fear
Many years before crows feet landed under my eyes, I read a book about forgiveness. I had long thought that forgiveness meant you just sucked it up, whatever someone did to you and then tried to move on. Over time, this became unsustainable. I could not keep walking away, biting my tongue, or taking the… Read more
I never meant to disappoint Mr. Zorro. Seriously, who could want to disappoint a teacher with a name like that? He wasn’t as swashbuckling as the guy in black, but I liked Mr. Zorro. I agreed to do the solo contest under his guidance in college like I had done so many others before that–just… Read more
On Sunday, I drove across the Cascade Mountains to sunny Yakima for a three day teaching conference. In this city my grandparents once called home, I let the sun melt away my everyday stresses and felt my curiosity perk up. While strolling the neighborhood, I discovered churches with large blocks of dark stone rising above the city… Read more
Last Sunday, I went to the closing ceremony of the Whitney Memorial United Methodist Church, a congregation of Japanese Americans who voted to shut their doors this spring. I sat in the back of Puyallup United Methodist Church in a different pew from where I sit most Sundays. Here I saw Shirley DeLarme and Ann Berney… Read more
Criticism and rejection are the best parts of becoming a writer or other artist. I know. That’s insane. Even as I write this, I am avoiding re-reading critiques I recently received. I am avoiding it like I avoided driving down the icy road where my van slid and almost tipped over the edge of a cliff last January… Read more
In my last piece for The News Tribune, I mentioned my middle school teacher Mr. Pat Keaton. He emailed me a few days later, congratulated me on my writing and then mentioned that Dieringer was celebrating its 125th year as a school district. Would I like to go on a tour of the old school… Read more
Caution: This story involves poop. I have found that poop is always involved when working with little people and animals, so maybe you won’t be surprised. But I thought I should warn you. My friend LeAnna, a horse lady from way back, said: “Fostering kittens is like having a tiny herd of horses in your house… Read more