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Chattering Mind

We spent our New Year’s Eve with old friends (with a new baby) in Washington D.C., a city filled with so many memories since I lived in it eighteen years. We showed our own kids our old haunts, visited the renovated Portrait Gallery, and also caught a retrospective show of my beloved Joseph Cornell, which…

A reader calling herself Gramma writes: “My clutter consists of piles of old magazines and newspaper clippings about important subjects: politics; religion; history; civil rights movement; black history; women’s history; sociology; etc. After I got rid of about half of it, the remainder is keeping me from renovating my home, selling it, and moving to…

I don’t mean to sound gloomy, but these days after Christmas often make me think of death. They always have. But I’ve been more aware of life’s fleeting, poignant character in recent years. My mother died four years ago on January 3rd, and she labored under hospice care during this normally festive week. So now,…

You know, this Chattering Mind blog is currently attracting some 25,000 unique visitors a month. And usually, you readers are a relatively quiet bunch. But inspiring chatter was indeed released by my three-part series on the clutter we keep in our closets and basements! My play-ZZTop-to-your-stagnating-garbage suggestion really hit ya’ll in the right spot! I…

I once wrote an essay called “Why Women Smile” for the women’s magazine Lear’s. More than fifteen years later, I’m still receiving checks from academic presses planning to re-run the article because, apparently, it “teaches well” in first-year college writing classes. This smile piece has also been featured in a lovely textbook called “The Writer’s…

“Who is the audience for this thing?” my 91-year-old father asked, clearly perplexed. I had my laptop out, and I was kneeling beside him, scrolling through my weblog, stopping at items I’d written that he might like. He awkwardly leaned forward to read through his trifocals, and I kept adjusting the angle of the portable…

The time has come to face the facts. I cannot live with my purse any longer, in its current chaotic state. Only the powers of the Asian art of Feng Shui alignment can help. If your handbag is insanely disorganized too, just follow these easy steps. Same rules apply for backpacks. 1. Buy a new…

I like the old-fashioned idea of hanging a framed prayer or poem near a home’s entrance to bless the house, so I was happy to find this hand-written blessing that’s probably sixty years old at a Brooklyn flea market recently. I’ve seen the following verse on plaques before, but never written it down. You can…

“Take off from here. And don’t be so earnest,let others wear the sackcloth and the ashes.Let go, let fly, forget.You’ve listened long enough. Now strike your note.” From “Station Island,” by Seamus Heaney

This morning, as I entered our house after shopping, I heard our old chiming clock mark the hour. I noticed then that it was running slow, so I put down my bags and wound it with the clock key I hide beneath its sturdy wooden legs. I’m amazed that with kids in the house, we’ve…
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