Be sweet, Lewis, be sweet. Those were the words Mama Grizzard spoke to Lewis each morning as she sent him out the door into the big wide world of elementary school. That’s southern-speak for be kind, be patient, be forgiving, be compassionate, be slow to anger, be gracious. Sometimes I wonder if today’s parents aren’t sending their kids off to school with the admonition to “Kick ass, son. Kick ass.” Consider Elan Gale and his mama. Elan, whose Twitter page identifies him... Read more
Miz Shelby had not been home in nearly a year. Not since Christmas last, when that awful phone call about grandmama dying interrupted the gift-giving. So she came home this weekend. Miz Shelby and her momma got facials, did a little shopping, made Rice Krispy treats and generally hung out, talking girl things. On Sunday, after a breakfast of bacon and omelets, Miz Shelby and her momma went to church. Miz Shelby had never been to this particular church before.... Read more
I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under… I can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building. Edward Snowden When you think of surveillance state, what do you think of ? Student One: North Korea. How come? Student... Read more
Speaking of coming across the prayers of the dead, have you read Lisa Wingate’s latest treasure “The Prayer Box”? “Tangled in strands of salt grass, treasures waited – a rosary, a bit of sea glass, a tiny bottle found nearby the carcass of a shipwreck, a small starfish, a photo of Iola and Isabelle taken standing next to a miniature hippopotamus at the 1940 World’s Fair. Along the frame at the bottom, the text read: Billy, the famous pygmy hippo... Read more
It takes a lot to get me to feel anything remotely empathetic for former Vice President Dick Cheney. But even my wicked heart winces over the public feuding between his daughters, Liz and Mary Cheney. Perhaps you have read the comments Cheney made about his daughters’ very public feud over same-sex marriage: “This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public,” the couple said in a joint statement after daughter... Read more
Somewhere in my office, or perhaps in the garage, are the journals I kept as a college student, and as a young married woman. Included in those papers are drafts of my wedding vows, and drafts of letters I penned but never mailed to that boyfriend I didn’t marry. The journals are almost all prayers, letters to God. There is nothing in those journals to indicate the writer that I would become. But there is plenty there that reveals... Read more
Gorge News Center Audio Interview with Karen Spears Zacharias, author of Mother of Rain, at Klindt’s tonight on November 15, 2013 · Mother of Rain is one of the best books that I have read in the last five years. Karen Spears Zacharias has a wonderful sense of place, a terrific way with dialogue, and firm grip on the emotional potential of good story-telling. I will be recommending the book to all of my colleagues and friends. Thom Chambliss, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Mr.... Read more
I voted for Obama twice. After President George W. Bush foolishly led us headstrong, willy-nilly into an ill-conceived war I was eager to put anybody running against the GOP into office. At least I had the good sense to only vote for Bush the first term. Yes, I am one of those independent-minded people who votes not with the party but with the candidate. Am I sorry I didn’t put Mitt Romney into office? No. Not at all. But... Read more
It’s my birthday. The very first in my life without the woman who birthed me. I’d post one of those photos here. You know the kind with the mother kneeling beside her daughter or son, as they blow out their candles, but I don’t have a single photo of me and my mother on my birthday. I doubt Brother John or Sister Tater do either. I don’t know if it was just the kind of mother our mama was, or... Read more
It’s her daddy’s fist slamming the table that Diane Carlson Evans remembers whenever she thinks back to that morning in 1966 when she broke the news to her family that she was headed to Vietnam. “I can still see his hand leaving that coffee cup,”Evans said. “That tight fist on the table, then he walked out the kitchen and went out to the dairy barn.” He never said a word. “Dad has a hard time saying what he feels,” said... Read more
Karen Spears Zacharias
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