Anglophile For Life

I don’t think I’ve ever met a more ardent, dedicated Anglophile than Katie Riegel. She means it. I mean really, really means it. She even married an Englishman! No matter that she had to relocate to Memphis to be with her very own Prince Andrew. They recently spent a month away, mostly in England, but Scotland and France, too. One could enjoy this photo essay for the photos alone, but the commentary adds so much. (Isn’t it fitting that her last name is pronounced “Regal?”)

Katie is a poet, and her prose is poetic. She was previously married, to a wonderful man we all admire and love, and during the end of the marriage, she wrote the book, “Letters to Colin Firth.” In them, she ponders and describes her journey through the end of the marriage (one in which she is still good friends with her ex) and the beginning of her connection with Andrew, her English husband. She writes with Colin Firth in mind as her ideal reader or, perhaps, confidante. (Because don’t we tell strangers things we don’t tell to those close to us?) If you’re interested in “Letters to Colin Firth,” by all means click on this link.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo essay. It is, as Brits say, “Brilliant.”

By Katie Riegel

Yes, my friends, I went to England this summer. I went during July, when the temperatures in Memphis were sweltering in the humid 90s. I went with my husband, who is English, and we visited his fam…

Source: Anglophile For Life

How Can We Get There?

by Katie Riegel

 

I recently got back from vacation (see my last post!) and one of my friends, as friends will, asked how I was readjusting to being home. I said, “On vacation, every day was about planning how much …

Source: How Can We Get There?

 

I recently got back from vacation (see my last post!) and one of my friends, as friends will, asked how I was readjusting to being home. I said, “On vacation, every day was about planning how much fun to pack into the day. I wish every day was about that still.”

My friend said, “So how does every day become about how much fun you can pack in? How can we get there?”

Whoa.

It’s easy to blow off a question like that, to jokepermanent vacation or win the lottery orheavy drug use. It’s easy to give up, to accept the “real world” in which vacation is supposed to be different from regular life—the dessert, as it were, to regular life’s green beans and white meat.

But what if we actually think about the question?

…

I believe, passionately, in asking the questions. I believe in all the uncomfortable pushing and pulling and cutting and sewing involved in making a life.

Games Universities Play

Games Universities Play.

Once again, the wise Katie Riegel writes a post I can get behind, heart and soul.

The Gloria Sirens on Life Improvement Radio

Recently, Tiffany Razanno, Chief Goddess of Wordier Than Thou, southern correspondent of Publishers Weekly, and Gloria Siren extraordinaire, interviewed the four editors of The Gloria Sirens– Lisa Lanser Rose, Susan Lilley, Katherine/Katie Riegel, and me about the inception and purpose of the Sirens, how we share the work of running a blog, how someone can become a Siren, and what is in store for the future of The Gloria Sirens.

The Gloria Sirens Interview by Tiffany Razzano – January 2015 on Life Improvement Radio

His Apple Pie

Gloria Siren Lisa Lanser Rose wrote this dog story, “flash nonfiction” that appears in this month’s Word Riot. It is powerful and understated. You can read it or hear Lisa read it.

Critic’s Cap: How I Approach a Book for Review or Manuscript in the Judging Process

My friend Vanessa Blakeslee received the Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs in 2013 and was a judge on the Literature Fellowship panel this year, 2014.  Vanessa explains what a judge or editor is looking for in manuscripts.  Worth the three minutes!  Vanessa hits all the points, and she is concise.  

 

Critic’s Cap: How I Approach a Book for Review or Manuscript in the Judging Process.

An FSU Student Writes About the School Shooting This Morning

Catherine Frederick is a former student of Siren Susan Lilley, and she’s a student at FSU. Here, she shares her story of the shooting that occurred in the early hours of morning. She makes some very strong points. One of them: “We shouldn’t even feel lucky if twenty years goes by without another school shooting. Because to feel lucky that it hasn’t happened, means that we anticipated that it would.”

 

It Can Happen Anywhere. It DOES Happen Anywhere..

Serpentinata

The Gloria Sirens are showcasing all creatures during the Dog Days of August.  Here’s a Leda and the Swan poem by Calypso Jewel.

 

 

Serpentinata.

Sweet Melissa

Sweet Melissa.

 

Speaking of Gluttony, Siren Susan Lilley shares the SIN FINALE featuring Avarice and Pride with a side order of Lust in this tale of debauchery that took place in sweet little ol’ College Park.

Adventures of a U-haul lesbian

Adventures of a U-haul lesbian by Tiffany Razzano.

 

“My best friend flew back home the morning after we arrived in Spring Hill. “It’s hot and I hate Florida,” he said. When he left I had nothing to do but sit up late outside, trying to enjoy the sticky, sweet nights and the quiet, reading or writing, realizing how incredibly alone I was in this new state. Nothing would be the same ever again.“