wood desk with typewriter vinyl record scrabble tiles paint and music

Why the Y? Or, Good in Spite of the Bad and Ugly

Karin Kallmaker Events and Appearances, LIFE + STYLE, Readers and Libraries, Sisters of the Pen

CONTENTS

Life has been so busy these last few weeks that I haven’t been sure what to blog about. Should I stay with the strictly personal, discuss the flu that’s run through our household that I may yet still not entirely escape? There’s wrestling meets twice a week and tournaments on Saturdays, and the general joys of raising children. The past tense in the statement, “My partner used to work for a really big bank” and the adjustment to her being home every day and the basic reality of dealing with this economy and the trials it is placing on all the people we know. Read More

It’s a Living Thing

Karin Kallmaker Craft of Writing, Dawning

book cover dawning science fiction

A tragedy occurred recently when two librarians headed home from a conference were killed by a drunk driver whose truck struck their cab. The cab driver survived, and so did the drunk driver, who had already been in court several times, and had a bizarre record of crimes. The drunk was an agent of chaos, the kind of remorseful-until-the-next-drink train wreck that strains the justice system and our mercy. Read More

Fairmount Ridge Castro Valley hikers 2008

What a Year for a New Year

Karin Kallmaker Cheers & Chocolate

It’s still five days to 2009, but it’s time for a New Year, isn’t it? Everybody knows somebody who is looking for a new job. We’re going to get a new start with a new president, but in the meantime we still have the old one. The year end mutual fund statements are going to hurt more than the last, and even tougher than the near-retirement boomers realizing they will have to work more years now are the near-college teens realizing their college funds aren’t worth a fraction of what they hoped. Read More