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True Movie Magic
At my age, it’s pretty rare when I am pulled back into the earliest movies I ever watched in my youth; ones where I felt a connecting moment or moments to events or characters. In a strange coincidence, that happened twice in 24 hours last week. When I first watched The Poseidon Adventure in 1972,…
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What Stories Will You Find?
There’s just something about this photo. Ever since I found it in my mother’s vast collection two plus years ago, I have propped it up against a vase on my desk. I like looking at it. I like trying to figure it out. The moment was captured in April, 1966. That’s me, and I was…
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Growing Up Fast in 1978
This week’s story is part of my memoir series. It was hot, even in the basement of Denison University’s Huffman Hall; early fall could still be warm and muggy in Central Ohio. Of course, the heavy, plastic apron I needed to wear to wash the dishes contributed to my discomfort by sealing the heat in…
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A Life in So Many Words
Dance Leaping into the air, gliding, soaring, feeling the rush of wind on your face then back down again where your intricate steps are noiseless, never sounding then around and around you pirouette, you can’t stop, your feet are in constant motion, you get hotter and hotter, the stage lights become unbearable then…
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Saturdays with Billie
Starting when I was very young, I remember visiting the home of my grandfather’s new wife. She was another Cleveland artist and her name was Dorothy Turobinski. Her medium was weaving and Billie Grauer moved in with her in 1964. At 4200 square feet, it was the biggest house I had ever been in as…
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A Crowning Touch
It will be two years this Sunday, September 8th, since Queen Elizabeth II died at the extraordinary age of 96. My own mother, Gretchen, had passed in late July that same year, just missing her 92nd birthday. They died exactly six weeks apart. They were laid to rest a week apart. As with many families,…
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Mining Memories
After taking a fairly immersive writing class this summer, which ended August 4th, I was eagerly expecting some good news from my Libby app. On June 13th, I had signed up for Eruption, the last book by Michael Crichton. Who doesn’t enjoy this bestselling author who mixes adventure, science, medicine and technology with a good…
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Fire and Water
Over the weekend, I finally had some time to listen to an unusual tape cassette. Actually, I should rewind here because I needed to buy a tape cassette player in order to listen to it. Luckily, given my advanced age, I was familiar with cassette tapes and recorders and their various functions. I was an…
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A Lucky Girl
Mom used to clean her paintbrushes with the heavy-duty solvent turpentine. The truth, however, was that she wasn’t painting much anymore in her small art studio upstairs. With Heidi, age six, and myself at age two (almost three) and a husband with dependence issues, she just didn’t have time. So, it made sense that the…
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The Power of Imprinting
Back in the mid-1990’s, I remember shopping one day in a Best Buy. There were rows of boxes lined all the way down the aisle; stacked on slanted display shelves for easy title viewing. Each box held a compact disc; a disc which might become the perfect game for our shiny new computer. “Should I…
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