The other day I finished reading The Book Thief. A couple days after that I read Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy. Have you read either of them? They are filled with death. So many characters die in both books. I feel drained. How do you feel when you finish a book? …
Category: memory
Death and the Old Year
2013 nears death. Not that our calendar rules the world, but it is the way I measure time thanks to happenstance of birth. Death was nagged at me a great deal this year. A cancer diagnosis and a heart condition will remind anyone of mortality. I feel lucky to be alive. How old were you …
The Past Stays Present
I've written about this topic before, but it is on my mind again. I don't know why. It stays with me. A classmate of mine was murdered in 1981. We were in the same 8th grade history class. I'd spoken to her only once or twice. She was just a girl who sat in the …
The Watership Down Effect
I found a beat-up copy of Watership Down on my mother's bookshelf. I was in the 7th grade and especially interested in reading what my mother read. A few weeks after finishing the book, I read it again. And before 7th grade was over, I read it a third time. The next summer I tried …
Moms, Dreams, and Stupid Questions
My mother drew the unicorn. I can't draw like her. I've always wanted to, but have yet to manage it. Do you compare yourself to your parents? Is there something either on of them did that you wish you could do? My mother started to write a novel. She had only a few chapters written …
What are the ’80s anyway?
Every decade has its personality, right? Although it's tricky because it isn't as if everything changes on January 1st of that zero year. When exactly did the '80s become THE '80s? What historical events mark the period? The election of Reagan perhaps? The beginning of MTV? I graduated in 1986, the year Ferris Bueller skipped …
Things Can Only Get Better
My novel is set in the summer of 1985. That summer I loved Howard Jones and I was about to start my senior year of high school. If you were around in the '80s, what did you love and what did you hate? * * * My novel, The Blue Jar, will be released as …
Transition Madness
Today I finished chemo. One surgery remains. The toxins will leave my body, my hair will grow back, and I'll get to call myself a survivor. But aren't we all survivors if we make it to another day? I don't know, but I find survivor a strange thing to call myself. Many people are kind …
Why Teach Fiction?
My adult ESL class is reading The Great Gatsby. I teach the advanced reading class and the goal of the class is to prepare the students for university. I also assign essays related to Gatsby, articles about the American dream and the like. Students in past classes enjoyed the novel. Some students even liked the …
Your Mind Is Not Changing
Some friends may think this is aimed at them. It isn't. They may have inspired me, but that's not the same thing. When was the last time you changed your mind? I don't mean you decided not to have your usual Monday breakfast. I mean, you changed your mind about the death penalty, abortion, climate …
Marta Bacon 