à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Writing
What’s Your Territory?
When I need a sane, no nonsense reminder of what resistance is, and inspiration for battling it daily, I pick up my worn copy of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to live more powerfully, whether that means creating art, healing a relationship, or getting in shape. As he … Continue reading
When a Memory’s Absence Tells a Story
A former boyfriend, from decades and another continent ago, e-mailed me last week to mention that Barack Obama had visited Germany, where he now lives with his wife and two children. He wrote: “I told my family that, thanks to you, I heard the senior Bush’s speech in Budapest in 1989!” Really? I didn’t remember … Continue reading
Of Mountains and Mark Doty
Somehow, I managed to not know of poet and memoirist Mark Doty until Lighthouse Writers Workshop brought him to the Denver area over the weekend. Friends raved about him, so I attended a “Writers Studio”, a combination of poetry reading and interview on Saturday, and his craft talk on Sunday. That the first event took … Continue reading
What Are You Really Searching For?
On the Internet, everyone is a seeker. We go online, type a word or phrase in Google and click “search”. Perhaps we are looking for something specific: the best price on a certain item, a train schedule, the precise meaning of a word. But many times, I suspect, we consult search engines as if they … Continue reading
After a Death, an Ant Reminds Me to Choose Life
A writer I admired passed away on Saturday, March 2. I met Robyn Richey Piz in a class at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and she invited me to join a writing salon. I knew her mainly through the story she chose to tell about living with a chronic medical condition. Her evocative and even ethereal prose … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
Recent comments