Author Archives: first person productions
A Happy Hair Story
by Dorothy Ross. (a response to the prompt, When were you happiest with your hair?) Was I ever happy with my hair? Certainly not when I lived in New York. Manhattan’s humid weather reduced my wavy locks to a nest of … Continue reading
What Does Freedom Mean
By Dhyan Atkinson In the early 1990s, I was working for an up-and-coming biotech company. I LOVED it there! The founders were interesting, funny, highly intelligent people and they hired “their kind of people” from top to bottom. Being in … Continue reading
When were you happiest with your hair?
Hair. We all have some, or used to. Back in the day, some of us “let our freak flag fly”–used our hair to display our identities, to proclaim we are “of this tribe” and most emphatically “not of that one.” “When … Continue reading
Reading the Panama Canal
By Doug Elwell She would have been happy to live in Antarctica if that was what he wanted. I can picture her sitting on a chaise lounge bundled up in a parka watching penguins frolic on the ice as they slide … Continue reading
Flash Memoir: Is that a thing?
Maybe you’ve heard about flash fiction–that genre of complete short stories in less than 1000 words. It’s been around since prehistory–given the difficulty of writing by chiseling on a cave wall, or later, the scarcity of papyrus–it’s no surprise brevity … Continue reading
A Vision for Pontilly: 10 Years Ago Today
By Sarah White I wrote this shortly after my return from New Orleans in March 2006. Over a March weekend in 2006, I was in New Orleans to assist a professional facilitator with a Vision Retreat process for the hurricane-damaged … Continue reading
Shame or Guilt?
David Brooks, the columnist I love to hate/hate to love, has done it again–published an essay that cogently covers an issue I’ve been ruminating on for the past half year. The article is titled The Shame Culture. In it Brooks writes, “In a guilt … Continue reading
Good Vibrations
By Sarah White In honor of International Women’s Day, I offer this essay about an aspect of women’s lives that is still surprisingly absent from the discussion of our wellbeing. Good Vibrations “Knowing how to please yourself gives you freedom.” The Little … Continue reading
The History of The Wonderful World of Childhood
By Sarah White I saw it this way. Once upon a time, a man saw a trail, he followed it, and saw a woods. He thought he could use it, and he did! He cleared it, and planted flowers in … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 
What does “freedom” mean?
Last week I convened another discussion on “thoughtful aging.” Amid the talk of life’s mixed gifts, Kathryn C. gifted me with an “Aha Moment”–“When I retired, I was giddy I was so happy! Such freedom!” Something rang hauntingly familiar. When Kathryn said … Continue reading →