Ina Coolbrith palled around San Francisco with Mark Twain, Jack London and Bret Harte. Rebecca Foust hangs out with PTA moms. Both are California poets. Read more.
DON'T MISS!
I've written hundreds and hundreds of posts over the years. To help you find your way to the best of the best, I've tagged my favorites "Don't Miss!" Scroll down here to find them.
Another way to locate Riffs on Life that you might enjoy is to click above on your favorite category – "My Ever-Changing Family," perhaps, or "Funny Button." You can also use the search box located way up top to hunt for stories by topic. There's fun reading at "garden," "aging," "kids" and, of course, "Jon."
Jeff Greenwald and Kevin Griffin — A Funny Buddhist and a Happy One
Jeff Greenwald is a master of the upstart art of finding God funny. Kevin Griffin writes about the commonalities between Buddhism and 12-step programs. Read more.
Confessions of a So-So Wife: The Night I Forgot to Make Dinner
It would be the dinner of my dreams, the married life I’d imagined as a girl back in Detroit. The table would be set, the chicken roasted to a golden brown. Read more.
At Orinda Books: The Author Talked — And So Did the Audience
It was an afternoon of lively interaction between author, audience, and Sister Barbara Hazzard, who read from the story she tells in “Wrestling with God.” Read more.
A Newspaper Story With My Name on It — That I Didn’t Have to Write
For once I was the interviewee and someone else was doing the hard work of conducting the interview. A newspaper reporter was asking my about my new book, “Wrestling with God.” Read more.
Coleman Barks and Rumi — What a Few Lines of Poetry (and a Witch) Taught me
I’d always imagined Coleman Barks to be a stern scholarly type — till I emailed him for permission to use a few lines from his Rumi translations in my book. Read more.
Telephoning Those Teenage Babysitters — Rejected Again
What did teenage boys and moms in need of a babysitter have in common back in the day? They had to call up teenage girls. Read more.