“A feminist is any woman who tells the truth about her life.” —Virginia Woolf Don’t let someone else interpret your narrative. Recently, another writer told me (my apologies for not remembering who it was) that “writing is a way to get the narrative to be your narrative.” I don’t want anyone else to tell my …
Looking at old photographs is not something I do much. I live here, after all, in the present tense. Last week, however, I got a jolt. A friend sent me a few old photographs. I wasn’t expecting them. In fact, I didn’t even know these pictures existed until the moment they popped up in a …
March 4, 2012—I started the mower and mowed the grass today. I am empowered. To mow the grass may not sound like much but it is. For me it is a physical and social triumph. I grew up with older brothers. They mowed the lawn, not me. When I was married to a rancher, I …
“I don’t know how to act anyway, so why am I doing this?” Meryl Streep This is a cold, wet Sunday morning in the hill country. As I lingered in bed reading, I came across a new term. While I tend to steer clear and roll my eyes about anything with the word “syndrome,” this …
Eighty something degrees and sunshine. Today I walked. Living all alone on I-don’t-know how many acres of ranch, I can walk for a long time. I see no one. I see no cars. I can hear the traffic in the far off distance but only because I live on a hill. I am the only …
How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn While I certainly don’t pretend to have ever experienced the magnitude of cold that Solzhenitsyn did, I know I really hate being cold. When I’m cold, I can’t do anything. I can only think about the cold. From my icy …
“And that's the only thing I need is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these …
"Women, then, have not had a dog's chance of writing poetry. That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own." - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own From the time I was a very young girl I had an ideal of living far away from any …
Regina M. Allen 