Workshops, Classes, and Coaching (oh my)
Hey folks, I hope your summer is off to a good start (or your winter, for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere). I tend to keep these announcements mostly to my mailing list, but my guess is that a …
Our fathers' graves
I had a zoom coffee date with a beloved far-away friend last week. He was talking about a recent trip back home to see his mother, and how he’d visited his father’s grave while he was there, something he hadn’t …
Thumbnail Sketch #1
I’m going to do a series of sketches of people I come across on my walks around Portland and in my neighborhood. I’m not sure how many I will do or how often I’ll post them. I’m imagining them now …
The end of urban homesteading
Fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and chickens were my consolation prizes for getting priced out of New York in 2007. Yes, we had to leave our hometown when our first kid was born, but at least in Portland, Oregon, I …
You know what you need? More Cynthia Ozick
Greetings from my bed on a Sunday evening. I’ve been here all weekend, tucked in with a stack of books that I’ve been too tired to read. No, it isn’t Covid. It seems to just be a plain old cold. …
Ceasefire Now. Release the Hostages.
I have shared links to articles and calls for ceasefire in Gaza on social media. I have signed petitions and an open letter against the conflation of criticism for the horrendous actions of the Israeli government with antisemitism. I have …
Laying My Dead Dad Novel to Rest
My father died when he was fifty years old and I was nineteen. He died suddenly and then slowly—a heart attack at work that he never regained consciousness from, followed by three weeks in a coma on life support, and …
In which I filled my bedroom with tiny kittens
Just as the summer was drawing to a close, and I was looking forward to quietly gliding into fall, I pulled a typical Cari move and upped the degree of daily difficulty. Not a tremendous amount—just enough to add some …
“Unrequited love’s a bore!”
Fucking Jack Kerouac, man. This weekend I read Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson, as research for my current novel. Folks, it was a damn good read. If you’re in any way interested in the Beats, and could do with a …
The Dangers of Auto-Fan-Fiction
Greetings from my mother’s kitchen table. The kids and I are halfway through a not-quite-two-week trip back east to visit family in NYC and New Jersey. It’s been a wonderful visit so far. I miss my people and these places …