Originally posted on Marjorie Turner Hollman:
As our parents age, we often fret about “What do you give someone who has everything?” But there is another side of this equation. What does an increasingly frail elder have to give? Money may be in short supply, energy is diminished; in short, elders often feel increasingly like…
“What is the cause of racism?” one of my English-language students recently asked. Abdullah is from Iraq, a country itself riven with divisions. But the virulence and persistence of America’s problems between white and black Americans is dumbfounding to him and to the rest of my class, and I struggle to explain it. I have chosen … More Explaining America on Race
For no particularly good reason that I can think of, I was invited to go to New York for a day of sifting through scholarship applications. This is the view from my hotel floor (24th). Here in midtown Manhattan, a quite small but luxurious room goes for over $300 a night, which I personally did … More Tall Buildings
So I found a way to put my /our album up for people to listen to online. I hope you enjoy it. Our band is re-forming and we will be working on an album of Appalachian/Irish Christmas/winter music, to be ready this time next year for the holidays. Thanks to all who have enjoyed our … More Some music for the holidays
Originally posted on Marjorie Turner Hollman:
Wild Cranberries Many years ago my friend Ellen Chagnon walked with me in the sandpits behind Silver Lake in Bellingham, MA and said, “It feels like there should be cranberries…right here,” as she bent down and picked a wild cranberry. Thus began my love affair with wild cranberries. I have…
Originally posted on Marjorie Turner Hollman:
My friend Sue suggested we do some exploring along the Charles River, so we set out early thing morning, with only a vague plan in mind. By the time we finished, we had visited trails in three surrounding towns, all of which access portions of the Charles River and/or tributaries…
There is a lot more green space in Manhattan than I would have guessed. As I stood on the George Washington Bridge looking southwest, I realized that when I lived in Manhattan as a child, I was not really aware of its physical orientation on the East Coast. I didn’t really know, for example, that … More Looking Down the Length of Manhattan
Places do matter. They are different from each other. People in those places are different and the thoughts and experiences you can have in one place bear no resemblance to the thoughts and experiences you can have in another place. I assert this only because there are people in my world who believe that place … More Biking into the Maw of the Metropolis
So we were talking about Donald Trump and his 4th-grade vocabulary level. Trump is still doing well in the polls as of mid-August, 2015, though that could change this week, or next, or the next. And he is doing well despite the insults that…
Em Turner Chitty 