PART OF THE VITALITY ARTS SPECIAL REPORT It’s long and wide, well-worn and sturdy: a wooden table that, for many years, served as a foundation, while conversations about community, the arts and collaboration flowed around it. At that time, the table he… Continue reading
Because I have a tattoo dotting each bicep, and because I frequently flavor my dialogue with an epithet that starts with an “f” and ends in “k,” folks have labeled me a rebel (or another, more profane word). And as a 4’9″, 80 1/2-year old woman with h… Continue reading
After 23 years of marriage, I was finished. For the last nine of those years, I’d owned a house with a garden in East Tennessee where I grew herbs, perennials, wildflowers and vegetables. I gathered herbal bouquets and dried flowers. I was a member of … Continue reading
Why is it, no matter how old we are, there’s a part of us which continues to seek our parent’s approval? My mother never was the kind of parent who believed that everything her child did was extraordinary or brilliant. A couple of years ago, I wrote a … Continue reading
Does age really bring wisdom? Recent studies affirm this adage, showing that older adults are better able to estimate the slope of a hill, recover quickly after making a mistake and use their brains more efficiently than younger adults. For readers of… Continue reading
In fact, Benjamin Dreyer would really prefer that I open this article quite differently. The longtime copy chief at Random House has made a career of helping authors like E.L. Doctorow, Frank Rich and Elizabeth Strout replace such “wan intensifiers” a… Continue reading
Are you by any chance an African-American widower living in Des Moines who loves gourmet cooking and pickleball? Or a Seattle barista, cancer survivor and gaming fanatic? Perhaps a Denver cannabis enthusiast, heli-skier and telenovela fan? Then there’s… Continue reading
Mother. Grandmother. Realtor. Baltimore Orioles groupie. These are just four of the roles that the late Thelma Knobel played in the Rowe family of Baltimore. Her daughter, Peggy, recently published a memoir— About My Mother: True Stories of a Horse-Cra… Continue reading
Eli Ayoud plates a delicately cooked piece of fish to which he’s added garden-fresh flavor and eye appeal with fresh rosemary. As he delivers the order to the diner and carefully situates the white plate on a linen-covered table in front of her, smiles… Continue reading
(This story is part of a partnership between Next Avenue and Nature: American Spring LIVE, a three-day, multiplatform event live on April 29, 30 and May 1 on PBS and Facebook.) Prolific conservationist Rachel Carson, of Silent Spring fame, urged that … Continue reading