occasional posts by risa aratyr
thoughts, news, and items of writerly interest
I know we’ll be ok, my husband and I. I appreciate our friends’ frantic messages – get out now! stay safe! don’t hesitate to evacuate! – but really, no worries, sweethearts. Roy has some practice in fleeing property-threatening fires, and we are both skilled in the art of letting go of our home and all … Read more Sitting Here in Limbo
FRIDAY 9 JUNE: This day the travellers journeyed westward in the steel belly of the California Zephyr. As we climbed aboard, the attendant said something about hurrying to the observation car, there might be a few seats left. I didn’t pay much attention. A crowded observation car had no appeal, to me at least. We … Read more Riding the Rails – A Chronicle
I have history with Colorado. When Babs and Joe met in Chicago, sparks definitely flew, but it was in Denver they fully ignited. I was well into my teens before my sister clued me in that the photos of my parents’ romantic stay at the Greystone Ranch in Evergreen had been taken before they were … Read more Rocky Mountain High
Program Notes For centuries it was theatrical doctrine that while ordinary folks could be the subject of comedies, only those born to the uppermost classes suffered deeply enough to be the subject of tragedies. Except for a few 17th century outliers (maybe four plays, five if you count Othello), it was well past the Enlightenment … Read more Riding the Rails – A Bourgeois Tragedy in Two Acts
Kansas City, Missouri lies smack-dab in the middle of the contiguous United States. Well, technically, “smack dab” is about two miles northwest of Lebanon, Kansas. The spot is commemorated by a small stone monument and plaque, and noted by the town of Lebanon in quintessential, low-key Midwestern style. KCMO is 260 miles/418 km southeast of … Read more From the Heart