Overstimulated senses—particularly sight, in this age of screens—are given a rest. A brain usually pulled in several directions at once is given a rest, like the dim, quiet room where we allow people with concussions to recover.
Women’s Voices
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.
Apologizing for Existing
From the raw, wise, and always wonderful Katie Riegel, another tender admission of vulnerability.
“When we feel like a burden on our loved ones, the comic recommends, we should thank them for their love and support rather than apologizing.
This recommendation is both lovely and smart. Words matter. Practicing gratitude has been linked to greater happiness and other benefits. And being acknowledged for their own wonderful selves gives our friends and loved ones more strength and energy to continue to support us. ‘Thank you’ creates a positivity loop.”
Source: Apologizing for Existing
When Sisters Sit Together
And welcome to the March theme for The Gloria Sirens: Herstory: Giving Special Attention to the Experiences of Women. (It’s Women’s History month.)
Mountains and DNA
This is the first anniversary of Mountains and DNA. It’s worth a quick look, which is all it takes, because Julia Connolly composes on her iPhone. I’m still amazed by that.
Another Story
Over at The Gloria Sirens, we decided that during February, we would concentrate on our love of language, and we are going out with a BANG with some quietly fierce fiction by Paula Whyman. Yes, we’re logophiles; so are many of you. As Lisa Lanser Rose wrote on Feb. 1, “We love language, we sing praise to writers, we live for readers, we cherish poetry and prose and song. The dictionary is a box of bon-bons for the brain.” We hope you enjoy this rumination over (mostly) one word and many of its implications.
Dumbass, or Words We Learned from Our Fathers
A deceitfully short look at the varied meanings of “ass,” by the always-thoughtful Katie Riegel. She packs a powerful punch using only 362 words. No wonder she’s one of my favorite writers.
– – –
We laughed the colors of grief and helplessness and our own anger, and we breathed in the colors of hope and confidence, and then we laughed all of it out again.
Read it here, on The Gloria Sirens.
Statute of Limitations – A Short Story by Paula Whyman
If it weren’t for Pogo and Ann, there might have been no trouble at all. They were part of Mike’s old life, which Ginny had loved when she first met him back in college, but when they married, she outgrew it and waited for Mike to do the same.
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
I just have to say... 