Tag: personal histories

On Joni Mitchell, restlessness, & blooming where I’m planted

Home-making in my latest location: Drew & Brenda's back yard, June 2021

I love Joni Mitchell’s music for so many reasons, but the songs that capture me the most are the ones that express her restlessness and her longing for stability. She released an entire album about it, Hejira, in 1976. If you made me pick one of her recordings for a desert-island exile, it would be…… Continue reading On Joni Mitchell, restlessness, & blooming where I’m planted

How far do you live from Mom?

Quoctrung Bui and Claire Cain Miller, “The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles From Mom,” New York Times, Upshot. Dec. 23, 2015.

Having spent a large part of my adulthood (15 years) in Rhode Island and Upstate New York, and coming from New Mexico, and living now mostly in central Illinois, I’ve reached the conclusion that people miss the friends, family, and businesses that move away and notice the newcomers a lot more than they pay attention…… Continue reading How far do you live from Mom?