Patricia Wild’s Blog
Bend like Insight Bends
Nineteenth-century Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker has been quoted by the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr ...
When the Planets Align
Sunday afternoon, on the sidewalk in front of my house, I randomly reunited with a neighbor who'd moved away years ...
“We understand the assignment!”
This will be brief: A huge fan of Kamala Harris since she'd run for president, I've owned a "Kamala" baseball ...
T Is For Tia—and Also For Terrific!
Saturday, an exquisite, sunny day in greater Boston, I was seated on a crowded T car when a multi-generational, Spanish-speaking ...
Hammock Reading?
For whatever reason, Friends Journal re-issued an article I wrote in 2018. Not light reading! But timely, I think. So ...
What Part of Community (Path) Do You Not Understand?
Another guerrilla gardener has struck! Another delightful installation along Somerville's newly-created community path, built strictly for bikers and walkers, this ...
Guest Author, Irene F. Ficarra (1912-1993): “What I Remember About the Molasses Tank Explosion”
[While delving into my "Women's Writing" file* recently, found this horrifying, first-hand account written by Irene F. Ficarra, one of ...
“Sensible and Human Things”
If we are all going to be destroyed by an atom bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing ...
“Who Are You Wearing?”
"I think she looks almost what you call a Quaker" [Middlemarch.] At first glance, I must seem a very bad ...
“(Mill)Dam!”
[Faulkner Mill, North Billerica, MA] Where there is a mill there is a river. And a dam. Currently (no pun ...
“Beyond A Reasonable Doubt?”
When I was growing up, my family ate dinner at precisely 6:00. My father, who liked to remind us that ...
Looming
Oscar season, this week I saw "Boy and The Heron," a Best Animated Feature nominee. Instantly, this rich, episodic, allegorical ...
Your Cup of Tea?
English novelist Barbara Pym is not everyone's cup of tea. Slyly hilarious, her emphasis on cosy (British spelling) and the ...
Lumi means “snow” in Finnish; it also means Light.
I'm not a dog person. Which means quizzical-verging-on-contemptuous looks from the numerous dog owners in my neighborhood as I briskly ...
The Colors of White
What Am I Called To Do (with asterisks)?:
To listen another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service one human ...
“That’s What Art Does, Right?”
While still dark, the Garbage to Garden driver arrives in front of our house; the truck's rattling wakes me up ...
Moving Day
Years ago my Mets fan son-in-law, he and my daughter toying with the idea of leaving The Big Apple to ...
“Wait! What?”
Tom Jones, who wrote "The Fantasticks" book and lyrics, died this week. This news means something to me: In 1966 ...
Just There!
One morning years ago, wearily trudging down the basement stairs carrying yet another overflowing basket of dirty clothes, I distinctly ...
“Hot Enough For Ya?”
Due to some fortuitous timing this week, a writing assignment arrived as if a prayed-for thunderstorm on a torrid summer ...
“This Stinks!”
Years ago I taught a women's writing class which met in the cafeteria of a nearby elementary school. Working-class mothers ...
Message Received
Every night for the past week or so, hours before dawn, a nearby robin begins to chirrup. And wakes me ...
