Sunday Afternoon with Kate

Kate Millett, pioneering voice about the interplay of sexism and women’s sexuality, died this week from cardiac arrest.  Her landmark book, Sexual Politics, was published in 1969 to some rave reviews, some loud denunciations, and much thanks from women trying to...

Poetry

For many years, I’ve said, half in jest and entirely in earnest, “When I grow up, I want to write poetry.”  And I’ve made attempts down through the years.  There’s even a fairly good-sized blue file labeled “My Poems” that I...

A Glacier and Me

In 2004, I went with my then-partner on an Alaskan adventure.  Our group numbered only about fourteen and the crew came to five, so we were in a boat, not a ship.  Because of the small size of our vessel, we could go into secluded and special areas to watch black...

Uriah Heeps Everywhere

Anyone who’s read Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield remembers the oleaginous character Uriah Heep.  Described by Dickens as unusually tall and wraithlike, Heep ingratiates himself into David’s world, wringing his hands in false supplication. ...

My Irish Mail

When I was the age to get a classic red Radio Flyer wagon (1944), the country was at war, so all metal was being used to make ships and tanks and the like. By the time civilians could once again purchase wagons for their children, I was too old to have one. To ease my...