Remembering Marie
Today, March 18, 2021, marks 100 years since the birth of my mother-in-law, Marie Barnard Smith Lilly, in Pampa TX. She died …
Finding Repose
Wallace Stegner’s novel, Angle of Repose, is a powerful portrait of pioneers in the Western United States in the years 1876-90, during …
Heart of a Woman
Florence Price was the first Black woman composer to have a work performed by a major symphony orchestra. The Chicago Symphony played her …
The Hill We Climb
After the appalling assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, I was worried about what might happen two weeks later at …
New Year’s Greetings
Our family greeted 2021 with gratitude for good health and with high hopes for getting vaccinations soon. We hope that you, too, …
Florida Evil Exposed
An evil institution festered in Florida for more than a hundred years. The Dozier School for Boys in Marianna was founded in …
Mar-a-Lago, Real and Imagined
On January 29, 2014, long before any of us had any idea that Donald Trump would be elected President, my Quail Ridge …
Persistent Women
My initial attraction to Jane Kirkpatrick’s novel, Something Worth Doing, was the author’s name; my middle name is Kirkpatrick. Examining the book …
Nina & Alicia
2020! This crazy year has disrupted my lifelong fascination with music by European men of the 18th & 19th centuries and schooled …
Autumn Songs
In October 2019 I heard a lovely piece on NPR, Chanson d’Automne (Autumn Song) by British composer Stephen Reynolds. I happened to …