centre of the universe

Tag: Heavy Thoughts

  • Small Kindnesses

    Small Kindnesses

    When my mom died, we asked people to bring rocks (she liked this Jewish tradition of remembrance) to put in a basket in her memory. Some folk painted rocks, some folks brought little ceramic knickknacks and gewgaws, others brought rocks from their gardens or farms, or maybe just from out in the parking lot. I […]

  • Who puts the ‘D’ in….”Dystopia”?

    Okay first, right off the hop, let me just say that yes, like a twelve-year-old, I have been snickering at the question “who puts the ‘D’ in ‘Dystopia’”. Dystopian fiction used to be among my favourite genres …styles… of fiction. I still do love me a well-crafted dystopian tale, but lately I’ve been approaching this […]

  • Close to Home

    Sometimes something happens that hits pretty close to home, but you can’t describe why it hits close to home and you don’t really understand why it’s hitting as close to home as it is. You just know you hurt and this kind of hurt isn’t something your amazing group of support peeps can ameliorate. Then […]

  • Danger Zone

    Please go read this article (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-kelly/the-thing-all-women-do-you-dont-know-about_b_8630416.html). I’ll wait. If you’re already on Twitter, you’ve seen this already. I spent about a decade trying to look not-female (which was tough, given my body shape) and being very angry that I couldn’t go out to the club or the bar without having to be “on guard”. I was […]

  • Don’t Need to See

    I love radio. I’ve always loved radio. Right now, I love radio more than usual. Just because you can do something, like take photos of dead refugee children, or take live footage of people being shot in the street, doesn’t mean you should use that footage. The best news reporters don’t need to shock their […]

  • A letter

    I wanted to write to you, to tell you that I’m trying really hard to be positive right now. That I’m trying really hard to think about the things that can go right instead of the things that have gone wrong. I wanted to write and tell you about my friend who’s had his heart […]

  • It’s like there’s a different word for everything

    What’s that word for “I think I touched your boob completely inadvertently; I meant to give you a good ol’ chuck on the shoulder”? I’m sure there is one. There has to be. There has to be a word for that in German. Or, you know, Esperanto or whatever. Because as we all know, the […]

  • What’s art got to do with it?

    What’s art got to do with it?

    I was in Calgary recently.  You remember this from such classics as “I lost the King in Yellow” and “damn, that was a good Manhattan, even without the cherries”. Well. Maybe not that last bit. That may have been a *private* experience. At any rate, while being chauffered to the aeroport for my return jaunt, […]

  • Sacrifice?

    See, the thing is, when I chose to become a parent, I did not think in terms of “sacrifice”. I did not think in terms of “giving things up”. It wasn’t about not being able to go out partying with my bee eff effs. It wasn’t about not eating hot food. It wasn’t about giving […]

  • Comin’ Through the Rye

    Time becomes irrelevant when you exist in a fog. You note its passing, later stay up all night with crushing guilt over what you should have done and how you could have spent the day. Think about all of the things you could have said to your kids but didn’t. Wonder why you seem wholly […]