Category: Uncategorized
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Brave New World
It’s no exaggeration to say we’re in a different world than the one we woke up in on election day. Or that I’d felt paralyzed by fear and disbelief following the results. But a week later I’d had enough of that. I looked at my life, weighed where I could squeeze in time and mental resources to…
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Every Vote Counts
My parents never missed an election, but they didn’t like to talk politics. “My vote is my business, not yours,” they’d say. No exceptions. To this day I have no idea who or which political party they believed in. So when it comes to this year’s contest, I can’t say for sure on which side they’d…
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As Luck Would Have It
“Several studies suggest that when we feel gratitude we’re more generous to strangers. When we’re reminded of luck’s importance, we’re more likely to plow some of our own good fortune back into the common good. But, we underplay luck. Because we can recall our own struggles far better than the fateful but fuzzy role of…
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Nothing Gold Can Stay
Last week the trees were full and blazing with color, but now the October wind blows and the leaves fall by the hundreds. Out the window I can see a tree already half-barren that shone gold just yesterday morning. Georgia runs outside to spin and laugh among the raining leaves. This is the first year that she’s…
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What We Give
〈”We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — “Mirrorgrams,” Altoona (PA) Mirror, 1944〉 I grew up in eastern Massachusetts. My dad was a Teamster, a truck driver, the youngest of 8, raised with a strong sense of obligation to family and community. And every other month, he would…
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The Mystique of Work
I’m not thinking of the exotic here. I count writers, musicians, and artists among my friends, and what they do is work, but what interests me are those out of the spotlight — stage designers and managers, roadies, or the folks who work in frame shops. People who work in offices. There’s no end to the…
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Forest for the Trees
Consider this a love note to the man who squirms when I write about him. My husband, he notices stuff. When I watch movies, I easily suspend disbelief. That’s what I’m there for, to lose myself for a while. I grant shows and movies a wide latitude in terms of accuracy or probability. Precision in writing is one thing, but…
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World Enough, and Time
* My daughter, when trying to go to sleep last night, asked me to hold her. “I want to be tangled like a knot,” she cried. As if that’s a thing to want. Wrapped up in those wants and big emotions, she’s more articulate than I can manage. This world is tangled, knotted by history and…
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About that stress fracture
There’s nothing the universe hates more than a whiner. Especially when they’re whining about what’s actually their good fortune. As in, I’m not in great pain anymore — I just feel ludicrous on crutches. So I have a stress fracture. Not the best thing in the world. Not the worst either. If I keep the weight off…
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The more things change…
Was it a blink for you? Though they’re older (hello, preschooler, 2nd grader, and 5th grader!), this past long weekend was still spent catching vomit in buckets all weekend long. I admit there’s less spatter and clean-up involved now that the kids are older. They’re pretty amazing about running for a bowl and not letting…
Marie Gauthier 