Review

 

L&LL

 

Maya Angelou

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you."
Maya Angelou

Profile Photo

My profile photo on this blog -- and on Twitter -- is a very old photo I've always liked. It was taken in Seattle, in 1996, one early morning when friends were visiting me from different states. We were all still in our pj's. I wanted to get up and make pancakes for everyone, but my friend's five-year-old son was sitting in my lap and didn't want to get up.

Gratitude Girl

Those who have read Languages & Life Lessons will find some parts of this letter, written by Gratitude Girl, familiar:
https://gratigi.blogspot.com/2021/04/afsaneh-shiftehfar.html

L&LL

 

USA

USA - circa 1999

 

E.B. White

"The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear."
E.B. White

Review

 

The 45-Year-Old Letter

In the chapter "Bilingual," I mention a letter that has "miraculously survived over four decades"... This is that letter I wrote to my dad, timestamped December 1976, back when international mail cost 22 cents... and I was six:

Reliving Moments

When I write about my life and recall the events of a period of my life, I relive those past moments so strongly and vividly that when I stop writing for the day, I feel I crave the things I enjoyed at that time of my life. I find myself searching for the songs I listened to and television shows I loved to watch.

https://youtu.be/588tyIbIXSU

https://youtu.be/zd6GypZF7bw

https://youtu.be/2bAMyiaIwNk

https://youtu.be/0ElnkOqi4qE

https://youtu.be/vxmYOZCnB5w

From England...

I love it when people send me photos of my book in their home.
It makes me smile, and I feel honored.

Book Review

 

L&LL

 

Jane Yolen

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.”
Jane Yolen 

Canada

 

Canada - circa 2003

Firoozeh Dumas

One of the books that have inspired me is Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. I read Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America about a decade ago and loved it. In it, the author describes her move from Iran to the United States when she was just a little girl. Her book is a collection of anecdotes about her own experiences as well as those of her parents, which she observed and skillfully put on the printed page.

Book Review

 

Languages & Life Lessons

 

L&LL

 

Sylvia Plath

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
Sylvia Plath

Book Review

 

Review

 

Languages & Life Lessons

Languages & Life Lessons
on the New-Books shelf
at the library

 

Book Review

 

Rumi

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
Rumi

Iran

Iran - circa 1991

                                                        

Book Review

 

China

China - 2005

 

Review