Woodside Story: Ancestors
So your mother was an opera singer who married an American G.I., and yet continued to keep her bonds with her arty and famous family members in Milan? And, get this: During World War...
Writing from the Heart: Don’t jinx it
When I got married, my husband wasn't into sports — playing or watching. He didn't know the NBA from the NFL. And I loved that about him. When the men would gather in groups...
Woodside Story: Strength training
It’s not just kids who dream about being superheroes. I’m thinking everybody at every age would like to be stronger. Tougher. When I was a wee one back in the 1950s, I adored the...
Writing from the Heart: Christmas envy
Every year at this time ever since I’ve been a writer, I have written about my Christmas envy. How I wished I could go to my attic or my basement and get out the...
Woodside Story: No need to panic
We think we prepare for being old — or, to use a more shuddery word, elderly — but we don’t, do we? We back away, don’t we?
And then suddenly we have to face the...
Hanukkah traditions at my house
Hanukkah feels like the most family-focused of Jewish holidays I celebrate. So, despite technically being a "minor" holiday (unmentioned in the Torah), it's highly anticipated. For one of our eight yearly nights of Hanukkah,...
Writing from the Heart: Impermanence
My teacher, Ram Dass, used to tell a story about a guy who had a painting of a sunset. Most of the painting is blah, gray, kind of nothing. But in the right-hand corner,...
Writing from the Heart: Now is the time
Many folks who take my Writing from the Heart workshop say they have been technical or medical writers, and just want to try being creative with their words. Others have said they want to...
Writing from the Heart: And what does she do?
Yesterday I changed the toilet paper roll for the first time in 20 years. No, we haven't been using the same original roll for 20 years. It’s just that I, me, Nancy Aronie, haven't...
On My Mind: Writer’s pause, a.k.a. writer’s block
In “The Book of Two Ways,” Jodi Picault writes that people are artists because “there’s something inside you that you can’t keep from spilling out. Maybe it comes in the form of sentences, or...
Writing from the Heart: Wishes aren’t warnings
“Be careful what you wish for” has been rolling around in my head forever. Because the way people would say it sounded as if it were a negative thing. Like a warning. I never...
Visiting artists Gretchen and Jackie Baer
I was driving into Vineyard Haven on a Sunday to offer Sound Healing at Camp Jabberwocky in late August, and realized I had not visited artist Jackie Baer, and her daughter, artist Gretchen Baer,...
Writing from the Heart: The middle way
Many, many years ago, I went to a meditation retreat, and at the end, we all lined up and one by one we each met the lama for a very brief connection.
I could hear...
Writing from the Heart: Good enough
“What other people think of me is none of my business.”
A mantra I repeat now and then, just to remind myself to be myself. I only need to hear it when I'm feeling that...
Three wash-ashores
Although some of my dear friends are lsland-born, most of us have been coming here for generations as “wash-ashores.” The Urban Dictionary describes a wash-ashore as “a newcomer to a coastal or island community,...
Writing from the Heart: Slow down, Turbo
My son Dan used to look at me with a cute grin on his face and say “Mom, slow down, Turbo!” It became a little private joke, and all I had to do was...
Writing from the Heart: Right ranting
WHY AREN’T PEOPLE RUNNING DOWN THE STREETS MUTTERING? WHY AREN’T THEY OUTRAGED”!! What is wrong with people!!!
So you already know this is my husband’s rant that he has been ranting since 1966. That was...
Writing from the Heart: Compassion fatigue
A few years ago, a friend of ours was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. We didn’t even have to do a meal train. We were on it before anyone asked. His wife was...
The Tisbury Street Fair: One to remember
Tisbury’s Main Street hummed this past weekend as hundreds congregated to commemorate the town’s 152nd birthday. A tableau of local businesses, musicians, vendors, and organizations greeted the festivalgoers. Children swept past, trailing multicolored strands...
Writing from the Heart: RIP, Alan Arkin
Was this the summer you did the stupidest thing ever?
No? Well, it was for me. I wrote a two-page letter to Alan Arkin. That wasn’t the stupid part. Before you start imagining, he did...