Writing as a Parent

I’m not a big fan of artists who complain about parenthood as an obstacle to creating. In a 2009 essay in Poetry magazine entitled “As if Nature Talked Back to Me,” poet Ange Mlinko writes: “…the plethora of conferences and grants and brief residencies by which cvs—and social networks, and reputations—are built, are no less restrictive to the poet-mother who …

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Writing, Money, and the Olympics

The Summer Olympics are on TV! And they’re happening in real life, too, OF COURSE…over in Europe, over in Paris, over where baguettes grow on trees et le fromage, c’est magnifique.  I was going to write a bracing postcard about how Olympic athletes get their stuff done. Ability + decision + dedication + support in …

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