Marion Roach Smith’s alternate sisterly reality, with Margaret Roach.
WHO SAYS SISTERS don’t arrive in the cabbage patch? That’s where I found this beauty, which reminds me of no one so much as my sister, Margaret. Organic, beautiful and snappy, while this little darling is not quite as cute as the one I found in the spring, here’s my adopted sister for autumn, the closest thing to Margaret since, well, Margaret.
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TWO SISTERS PLUS ONE BOOK equals two soups. This is the sisterly cooking math we did when our friend and uber-agent Kris Dahl sent us both a new book, and two households went on a pretty much liquid diet. But oh, what liquid! [click to continue…]
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NOT ASKING YOUR SISTER is dumb. I should know. I learned that lesson when our daughter was 5, and told me that she wanted to be a boy. Actually, it was more specific than that. She told me she wanted a penis.
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I TOLD THEM, AND I TOLD THEM, and I told them again. And still the doctors did not listen. I awakened during procedures; worse, I never fell asleep. Then, finally, science backed me up and I had something to show my doctors before they brushed away my claims of both needing more anesthesia and feeling more pain than most people. Turns out that I am one of a rare breed of mutants who does. Are you? [click to continue…]
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EVERYONE HAS A STORY. It’s true. And the evidence has never been more obvious. Have you seen the size of the scrapbook aisles at Michael’s or A.C. Moore? Have you read any blogs today, or watched as the number of printed personal essays continues to climb, even as the number of pages of our newspapers and magazines continues to decline? But are we writing it as well as we’d like, or are we just saying more? Would some how-to tips help, perhaps? [click to continue…]
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WHAT MAKES GOOD MEMOIR? I get this question all the time when I teach. And reading your comments on this makes me think it’s time to limn that line between what is merely some great scene versus a scene that is ready for the writing. [click to continue…]
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ARE YOU WRITING SOMETHING? Oh, come on. You can tell me. Everyone else is writing about their lives. You can, too. But which story? And how to tell it? I teach memoir, and while my class is off for the summer, I’ll continue posting memoir tips here on TSP, hoping you can find the time to get to your story and that I can be of some help. My theory is that anyone who survived childhood has enough material for several books. So let’s get to it. Here’s an exercise; read along and let’s see if it gets you going.
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MY SISTER’S VERSION IS NOT MINE. Different because we grew up in the same household, not in spite of it, our looks back on life can be seen through one lens or the other–or both. Even the simplest stuff can have two versions, I’ve discovered, and while I’m getting more accustomed to the idea, I am deeply moved by the truth that for long periods of our lives I held my version against hers as the truth, the only truth, and nothing but the truth. Take for instance those early traumatic experiences. I suspect we may differ, even on those. I don’t know.
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THREE MALE FRIENDS. Each, for his own reason, needs to learn to cook right now. One is coming to terms with his New York lifestyle which, in the recession, requires he scale back from his diner existence of three take-out meals a day. One just lost his partner in such a tragic death that we celebrate that he’s tying his own shoes. And one just saw his wife of 20 years walk out. [click to continue…]
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THE RULES HAVE CHANGED. The Sisters on the Sidelines have been given our orders and they are not pretty. We’re pretty, thank you very much. The orders are not. We sisters on the sidelines sit through game after game, slowly developing a bond, getting know one another, identifying each other at first by the child we come to cheer on the field, track, court, or in the pools. But soon we identify one another by who we really are, as is defined by the length of the leash on which our children place us. [click to continue…]
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LITTLE SISTER, BIG SISTER: A digital moment, today.
First time here? Here's the idea: The Sister Project is a network of blogs about the many facets of the word sister, and the concept of sisterhood. A sisterhood of sister blogs, you could say. Whatever sister means to you, from identical twin to sister-in-law (or in friendship or in feminism), we’ll make room to listen in about it or express it on TSP. Like the slogan up top on our homepage says, “Don’t you have something to say to your sister?” We've got galleries of art and literature by and about sisters, and a Sisterpedia of sisterly trivia...but now we're getting ahead of ourselves. The quick study: Learn more about TSP, and how to find your way around. And oh—a giant, sisterly welcome.