Category Archives: Sarah’s memoir
The Ghost Office
This post concludes a series on our experiences under COVID-19, inspired by the realization that “we are all field collectors” in the effort to someday tell the story of what happened in 2020. Let’s turn our thoughts to something lighter. I welcome … Continue reading
The Power of a Thing, Or, The Tea Cart Goes Away
This post continues a series on “objects” inspired by Martie McNabb’s Show & Tales events. In writing, the concrete will always have more power than the abstract, because with concrete words come images. Let my words bring images to your … Continue reading
COVID19 has jailed our elders
On March 15, the assisted living facility where my mother lives went into lock-down to attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Visitation was immediately restricted to only those receiving end-of-life care. Group dining was suspended. So were all group … Continue reading
No Words
By Sarah White Lake Superior, around Ontonagon, Michigan, 46° N, 89° W. Zero positive tests for COVID19. 100% positive energy. Wish you were here, -Sarah
Cobblestones
By Sarah White You know how a phrase will barge its way into your life and become part of your permanent collection, of inside jokes? It was like that with the cobblestones. In 1991 I was accepted into a … Continue reading
Snap Judgment
By Sarah White When we meet a person, we make an assessment based on a few signals—the coat they’re wearing, the car they’re driving, the state of their hair. But can we ever trust the accuracy of that snap judgment? … Continue reading
My First Moth StorySLAM
By Sarah White I think I’ve known about The Moth since it originated in New York City in 1997. A homesick southern poet wanted to recreate the feeling of the summer evenings he remembered, when people gathered on porches to … Continue reading
My Big MFA Adventure complete, finding a publisher comes next
“We’ve got your book,” said the title on the brochure that fell into my hands one fateful morning in Oxford, England, July, 2016. “Whether you are a mid-career writer, a journalist, or an aspiring author, King’s MFA is designed for … Continue reading
Danger Growing
By Sarah White I wrote this in one of my memoir writing workshops in response to the prompt, “childhood danger.” We slept in cribs with slats that could trap our heads, springs and latches that could pinch our fingers. … Continue reading
The Things We Carried — To the Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium
By Sarah White With apologies to Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, a Vietnam war novel/memoir that I was reading while on this jaunt. Bold sentences are lifted from his opening pages and used as writing prompts. Soleil Ho, … Continue reading