Late-20th-Century Selfie: Camping ’94
Spring Break 1994, Elsa and I went camping. This was our last spring break as students, since we were both completing our master's degrees in education that year. I had already started working as a long-term substitute teacher in the school district where Elsa and I had met and become friends in the late '80s.... Continue Reading →
Late-20th-Century Selfie: Thanksgiving, late 90s
Some holidays are so much like all the other holidays that they run together with the other ones in a big holiday soup. It's difficult to distinguish one from the next. This late-20th-century selfie was not from one of those holidays. I'm posing here with my brother, Tracy. This was the Thanksgiving that my half-sister,... Continue Reading →
Late-20th-Century Selfie: December 1989
Who doesn't love a Santa Selfie? I remember explaining to this particular Santa what I wanted to do because the term selfie didn't exist yet. "Can I take a picture of us together, but, you know the kind where someone holds the camera out like this, and the picture is just two big faces?"... Continue Reading →
The Caretake of Tree Palace (kids’ novel)
Caretaker of Tree Palace, The Author: C. Dawn McCallum Product Code: CTPH ISBN: 978-097640263-3 Publisher: Longhorn Creek Press Pages: 117 Binding Information: Hardcover Size: 5 3/4" X 8 3/4" Inches Availability: In stock. What do you do you go when everything in your life is changing?Twelve-year-old Doodles retreats to the pages of his ratty notebook where he can draw his own world. After his... Continue Reading →
The Waking Tree, Chapter 1: HUM (first half)
My limbs and roots breathed in the world around me. My Abracadabra, my Josephine. My tree girls danced pretty rings around my trunk. I breathed them in. “Sing to me. Hum me a song, our song,” said Abra, lying under my branches that first night. “Sing the song that goes up to the moon and... Continue Reading →
The Waking Tree: Introduction
Scientific name: Maclura pomifera Common names: Hedge tree, Bois d’arc, Osage Orange In Texas, we call it bodark. The Osage Indians used to make bows from its curved and supple limbs. Two of the tree’s names are derived from this fact. (Bois d’arc means “wood of the bow.” The fruit of the... Continue Reading →
What to Do When Bears Return Unexpectedly From an Outing (a Poem)
We packed your bag today. I told you the stories of when I went to where you are going now. The deep, dark woods of life. I told you about the night I got cold and hungry and found a bears' house to sleep. About the time your uncle and I left breadcrumbs to the... Continue Reading →
The Name of Woman
“I may yet be worthy of the name of woman, in the purist and noblest sense. Yes, I will be if resolution and perseverance can accomplish anything.” Alice Marshall Finch, May 1866 This is a line from my great-great grandmother’s journal. She was 18 or 19 when she wrote this and living near Richmond, Virginia.... Continue Reading →
Questions for the Sphinx
I spent about half an hour gazing at the Sphinx that’s a part of the British Musuem's internationally touring “The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece” exhibition now at the Dallas Museum of Art (through October 6, 2013). I had seen the exhibit a few weeks ago and dutifully read all the descriptions and spent time... Continue Reading →
July 26, 2013–The Month of Words
It is the Baha'i month of Words, or Kalimat. I was pondering what I've done this month to be a reflection of the Word of God, the creative impetus of all life. I've been ingesting Words as I prepare for the play at the Mesquite Community Theatre, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned... Continue Reading →
The Lady Walkers: Champion Pedestriennes of the World
I've now been working on this project for over a year--in my spare time. I've taken three video courses and am now working on transcribing primary sources and interviews. I have about 80 pages of newspaper articles left to transcribe (although most of the entries are quite short) and about 2 hours of interviews to... Continue Reading →
Author Events have included
November 19-20 2008 PTA Reflections Contest Judge and Guest Speaker Dove Elementary and Grapevine Middle School in Grapevine, TX 2007 See http://www.barnesandnoble.com for directions and phone numbers of stores. JANUARY January, 31, 2007 Author Visit at Stovall-Shaw Elementary School, Stovall, North Carolina FEBRUARY February 6, New Hope Elementary School, Hillsborough, North Carolina February 8, St.... Continue Reading →
