Maya began drinking young - she was binge drinking by the age of 15 at weekend house parties in Walnut Creek. I was a young, naive, overstretched single mom with no concept of the party culture in the wealthy suburbs of Contra Costa County where we lived in the late...
THAT’S THE WAY LIFE LIVES
Remembering Maya
On this day 46 years ago I gave birth to a baby girl. We named her Maya. She arrived three weeks early so she was was tiny, just 5 lbs. 4 oz. For the rest of her life, Maya was in a hurry. Friends called her "Barbie" because of her white-blonde hair. She had dark...
Glorious Disorder
“Write your mind!” This exhortation originated with Allen Ginsberg and came to me via one of my favorite poets Frank X Gaspar (Late Rapturous, Night of a Thousand Blossoms). Gaspar speaks of his own need for encouragement, and his realization that Ginsberg was right –...
Celebrating Maya
It’s a day to celebrate, and to mourn. Maya died on April 6, 1992, twenty-six years ago. And on this day, my dear friend Patti Frame received my daughter’s liver, and her life began again. Others received the gift of sight, or a new heart, or a new kidney. And many...
Tastes of Montreal
I get to know a city with my taste buds. So the Fitz and Follwell tour “Flavors of Montreal” spoke to me. F & F also offers bicycle tours - they are a bicycle shop - but I wanted a slower pace and a chance to sample some classic Montreal foods. Our guide,...
Picnic in the Park
St. Viateur bagels are a Montreal institution. When Montreal was just a gleam in my eye and my plans still vague, a friend who grew up here was already telling me about "the best bagels in the world." Julia Scott told me I had to go to St. Viateur to sample the...
Mont Royal = Montreal
If you are anything like me (an uniformed American) you might not have realized that Montreal is actually named after a mountain, Mont Royal. Said mountain is in a beautiful park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903), the same landscape architecture genius...
Are You a Writer?
Waiting for the muse to descend so you can write is, sadly, a tragic fallacy. “Writing is 99 percent perspiration, and one percent inspiration,” a wise person once said. Writing is work, and like any job, it requires commitment and sustained focus. I recently taught a...
Memoir: Teasing Meaning from a Messy Life
Readers of my memoir, Swimming with Maya, often approach and say something like, “After reading your story, I feel as if I know you as an intimate friend. Wasn’t it hard to be so open about your life?” I readily admit that yes, it was hard – the striptease of writing...
Going Gray
I used to joke about how coloring my hair was akin to keeping my portrait in the attic the way the fictional Dorian Grey did – one day, I’d have to face reality. The day has come! I’ve decided to let the gray grow in. In The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, a...