Friday, November 25, 2011

Weekend Reading: The Just Plain Good Writing Edition

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! I hope all of my American readers had a good Thanksgiving yesterday. We had 10 people at the table (including our two kids) for a traditional feast. We've been doing Thanksgiving at my place since graduate school, and by now, I don't find it intimidating at all. Petunia is sick right now, though, so it was challenging getting her to accept someone else for comfort when I had to be in the kitchen. My Mom and my sister did a lot of the cooking, too, so it all worked out.

Anyway, since I still have a houseful of guests and Petunia is still sick and will undoubtedly realize that she is cuddling with her Boppa and not me soon... I'll keep this short.

I have two links for you today. They have nothing in common except for the fact that they are both beautifully written.

First up, small animals has a moving post about attending the funeral of a family friend from her youth. It is sad, yes, but also uplifting. Whenever I think I'm doing OK at this writing stuff, I read something from small animals and I realize that I'm not really writing.  I don't pay attention to it as a craft in the way that a truly good writer does.

Next, Sweet Juniper has a post about some unfortunate happenings in his neighborhood. If you are interested in the life and plight of struggling cities, and haven't found Sweet Juniper yet, you should start reading him. He writes a lot about his life with his family in Detroit, and it is almost always as wonderfully written as the post I linked to above. 

My presence online may be sparse for a few days... or Petunia may perk up and decide she wants to play with her grandparents, in which case, I may write a post or two. We'll see. Either way, I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

2 comments:

  1. Aww - hey, thanks so much for the link and for your kind words. I not only feel warm and fuzzy, I also had a few people actually visit my blog this weekend!

    Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

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  2. sCloud - I really enjoyed the Sweet Juniper post especially. I used to live in downtown Columbus (right downtown, not up near OSU); I had never been to a deserted midwestern city before, and man was it grim. I lived in this kind of sad loft apartment in the midst of huge parking lots that were always empty. I had never known a city could feel so empty, so barren, so quiet. There wasn't even a place I could get a cup of coffee on a Saturday without walking 20 minutes or more.

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