My book contract says that I’m to deliver my book manuscript “in conformity with the provisions in ‘The Chicago Manual of Style.’” That means that, at long last, I’m finally going head-to-head with the serial comma. Read more.
Barbara’s Riffs on Life
Little Girl Lost — My Mother’s Magical Babushka
When I was three or four years old, my mother took me shopping at a big department store in downtown Detroit. It might have been Crowley’s or Kern’s or Hudson’s. Shoppers crowded the aisles and soon, my mother and I got separated and I found myself alone. Read more.
Armistead Maupin: The Man Who Wrote the Quintessential San Francisco Novel — On a Newspaper Deadline
Army’s assignment was to show up at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle every weekday morning and produce seven hundred words, give or take. The challenging part was this: Unlike most newspaper journalists, Army did not sit down to his Selectric typewriter fortified with a fat notebook of stats and quotes. Army’s job was not to report the news. It was to make it up. Read more.
SXSW: The Funky Charms of East Austin, Texas
Deep in the heart of Texas is a neighborhood that has everything it takes to be a first-rate hipster haven — street art, food trucks, farmers markets, coffee shops, parks, affordable (so far) housing, artists’ studios, walkability — and, most important, a carefree, offbeat vibe. Read more.
Christmas in Mexico — It’s All About the Baby Jesus
If it’s the Baby Jesus you’re looking for on Christmas Eve, the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is the place to be. Read more.
A Festive Christmas in San Miguel de Allende
Santa was nowhere to be seen in the days leading up to Christmas in San Miguel de Allende.