Category Archives: writing
X is for Xenophobia #AtoZChallenge
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “xenophobia” as “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.” The American Heritage Dictionary agrees but adds the emphasis on “different countries or cultures”: “Fear of, hatred of, mistrust of, … Continue reading
W is for Wintertide Coffeehouse #AtoZChallenge
When I discovered, and promptly threw myself into, Wintertide, it was strictly a winter thing. It happened at the off-season youth hostel. Now I can’t remember whether this was during my first year-round winter (1985/86) or my second. I’ve been … Continue reading
V is for Violence #AtoZChallenge
I walk any- and everywhere at all times of day and night with nary a fear of being mugged, raped, or murdered. When something rustles in the woods, I know it’s a squirrel or a rabbit or a skunk. Come … Continue reading
U is for Unsustainable #AtoZChallenge
Warning: This is a rant. T/read cautiously. “Sustainable” is all the rage around here. Support sustainable agriculture. Buy island-grown. Reduce your carbon footprint. Recycling is practically a religion. Ditto “rescue” — of animals and the environment. (I was about to … Continue reading
T is for Theater #AtoZChallenge
The late Mary Payne (1932–1996), founder and longtime director of Island Theatre Workshop (ITW), was utterly shameless about drafting people into theater (or theatre — you choose). I was one of them. She needed help with PR. She knew I … Continue reading
S is for Single #AtoZChallenge
OK, this one’s gonna be short because I need Sunday morning to get back to Wolfie so I won’t keep the Sunday Writers in suspense about What Happens Next. “Short?” chortles the Internal Skeptic. “We’ll see about that.” Here goes. In … Continue reading
R is for Recovery #AtoZChallenge
Recovery is all over The Mud of the Place. Protagonist Shannon is an alcoholic with a pretty well established recovery — she’d be the first to say “recovering,” not “recovered,” and to emphasize that she’s gotten this far one day … Continue reading
Q is for Questions #AtoZChallenge
With Q drawing closer, not swiftly exactly but steadily, I was drawing — not quite a blank, but I wasn’t inspired. I solicited suggestions from Facebook friends. Quirky, quixotic, query, question, quahaug (aka quahog) . . . All worthy, but still not … Continue reading
P is for Poetry #AtoZChallenge
“I came to work on my novel.” It was a total cliché at the time — everyone, it seemed, came to Martha’s Vineyard to work on a novel. A few years later it was a screenplay they were working on, but … Continue reading
O is for Online #AtoZChallenge
When the retina in my right eye detached in early August 2004, I’d been off-island at most twice since 9/11. In the following months, I made numerous eye-related trips to Boston: ferry to Woods Hole, bus to South Station, subway … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 