Memoirous

Who Am I? Questions of identity outside of community The women of Women Talking were born and raised in their colony. Every part of their life was regulated by their faith. How they ate, related to others, and their eternal soul. That was not my experience. I chose to join my community as a young person right out of college. Even as a child I felt called by God. Call it prayer or talking to the sun, I held conversations in my head, sometimes audible, asking for help, guidance, begging for love, mercy. I had a chaotic childhood where I constantly wondered about my place in the family. It’s hard to reduce into words how I felt, much like an outsider. I do not believe anyone in my family “got” me. I was certainly lonely. I yearned for acceptance and was open to fairies, to a make-believe. I imagined a world on the underside of the real one that was perhaps more real than the one we can see and hear, touch, taste, and feel. That there was something MORE to this life. Thus, even as a yo...

Women Talking was possibly the only Oscar-nominated film I saw this season—and that’s only because it was available on Amazon Prime. Sorry movie theaters, I’m still not going out, mainly because I need the luxury of bailing because I’m tired and want to go to bed. I often watch stuff in stages. Women Talking I gulped down in one sitting. It’s complicated. The subject matter and how it left me feeling. The premise of the film/book is based upon true events. An Anabaptist history lesson: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: According to the 2012 estimates, there were 100,000 Mennonites living in Mexico[1] (including 32,167 baptized adult church members),[5] the vast majority of them, or about 90,000 are established in the state of Chihuahua,[2] 6,500 were living in Durango,[3] with the rest living in small colonies in the states of Campeche, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Quintana Roo. Their settlements were first established in the 1920s.[6] In 1922, 3,000 Mennon...

This past weekend was Nowruz, the New Year according to the lunar calendar that Iran follows. In my book,  Cloud of Witnesses , Hassan explains the idea of Nowruz to Roland who likens it to spring cleaning, a time to clear away the old and prepare for the new. “According to the Muslim calendar this is the time for the new year,  No Ruz , spring when all things are made new again. It makes sense, doesn’t it?” “Yeah, I guess.” I knew better than to say  interesting . Hassan took a colorful scarf out of his backpack and spread it on the ground. “We have a tradition,” he began. On top of the scarf he placed a hard-boiled egg. “Where we eat specific foods. The egg represents new life just as these do—” He plucked a couple of burs and catbriers off of his soccer shirt and placed them on the scarf. “Seeds.” Next from his bag he brought out a baggie of goldfish crackers. “Usually we use real goldfish, but these will have to do, and this is called a  noghl ,” he said holding ...

  Vernal Ponds ay 03, 2022 I’ve learned a new word: vernal ponds. Here in Michigan in the spring I ride my bike past snow-laden fields that slowly give themselves over to marshes. In the woods the trees are submerged into run-off pools. From Wikipedia: Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species unable to withstand competition or predation by fish. Certain tropical fish lineages (such as killifishes) have however adapted to this habitat specifically. This description almost makes them sound magical—ephemeral, but they are temporary and are slowly, even now, fading. Everyday there is more field than pond. And, on the really nice days I can hear the boisterous bull frogs, the chirpy peepers, and all the other members of the vernal po...

 Watching Jack Run I watch Jack run, headlong Head bobbing, a skip In his step, a slight hop Sometimes a canter, often a gallop He pretends he’s a horse Arms flaired, feet pounding Free, wild, unbound --and when he falls,           the world is so unfair

I wrote last week about being teased— overnight snowfall crisp mornings with a whiff of freshness, green melt throughout the day late-afternoon, a slant of light brilliant, encompassing, soul strengthening I pull a lawn chair out of the shed sitting in warm sunlight raises all kinds of wellness levels good vibes and hope, there is a God in the least, at last change is coming

After last night's Oscars, I feel validated as a woman past her prime still striving in the arts. I’m not a huge movie-goer. I want to support theaters, cinema, poetry and book readings—but my life has taken a turn with the pandemic. One, I moved away from Chicago and live, not necessarily in the sticks (I in fact live in the state capitol of Michigan) but am simply not acquainted yet with where everything is. I tuned into a poetry reading via Zoom out of MSU and it was freaky hard to find the links after registering. I had to give my email address so thought I’d get sent a link. There’s one book shop at the mall, but it’s sort of like a Barnes & Nobles or Borders, somewhat faceless. I’d like to find my people, my tribe in the arts here in central Michigan, but there are very few opportunities. On top of all that—I’m a working woman. I’m shocked now that I have to keep up with my job until age 70 in order to make any kind of pension how retreats, conferences, workshops ar...

This blog is about a conglomerate of things I’m passionate about—and attracts several diverse audiences. There’s friends and family who tune in to read about what’s going on with me and enjoy pics of my grandson—who’s terribly cute (notice the use of both of those words). Others have begun to find me because of an interest in Tiny House living. I also write about writing—specifically flash and memoir, where I’ve combined the two into flash memoir, a term I’ve coined to talk about (book me for a workshop or seminar, either remote or in-person) writing small memories, scenes that may or may not have a larger connection to a memoir, about how to take an anecdote and turn it into an essay. From the blog set piece: Auto fiction is the word the French use for a form somewhere between truth and a kind of distilled truth. Memoirous is about memories, real and unreal. What we think happened. Truth—the times they are a-changin’. We are about to experience our last Spring Forward daylight...

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale! March 5, 2022 - March 11, 2023 Fiction is FREE all other books 50% off go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chicagojane to view my books Jane Hertenstein Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 90 published stories, a combination of fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre both micro and macro. In addition she has published a YA novel, Beyond Paradise, and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. She is a 2-time recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. She also is in demand as a seminar teacher for Flash Memoir. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Hunger Mountain, Rosebud, Word Riot, Flashquake, Fiction Fix, Frostwriting, and several themed anthologies. She can be found at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/. Her latest eBook are Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir and 365 Affirmations for the Writer.

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale! March 5, 2022 - March 11, 2023 Fiction is FREE all other books 50% off go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chicagojane to view my books Jane Hertenstein Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 90 published stories, a combination of fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre both micro and macro. In addition she has published a YA novel, Beyond Paradise, and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. She is a 2-time recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. She also is in demand as a seminar teacher for Flash Memoir. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Hunger Mountain, Rosebud, Word Riot, Flashquake, Fiction Fix, Frostwriting, and several themed anthologies. She can be found at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/. Her latest eBook are Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir and 365 Affirmations for the Writer.

It is hard to know what is going on anywhere these days. Yes, we have Facebook and other social media, but to really get inside events is extremely difficult. I can only discern or interpret so much from pictures. That being said, this much I know: My friend is brave. Or stupid. I’ve often wondered about that thin line between being a risk taker and a hero. Between being someone who runs into a burning house and someone who runs into a burning house to save another life. Right now the war between Russia and Ukraine is a huge firestorm, wrecking countries and the world economy. In   Putin’s eyes and convoluted logic he is being brave and taking a risk to invade another country (or non-country, again his weird thinking) to de-Nazi-fy it. It’s all a play on words and myths and folk legend. Meanwhile. The people living in Russia and Ukraine reap the havoc. I have friends in Russia that I met through Couchsurfing when they stayed with us several years ago. It was a rough introductio...

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale! March 5, 2022 - March 11, 2023 Fiction is FREE all other books 50% off go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chicagojane to view my books Jane Hertenstein Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 90 published stories, a combination of fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre both micro and macro. In addition she has published a YA novel, Beyond Paradise, and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. She is a 2-time recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. She also is in demand as a seminar teacher for Flash Memoir. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Hunger Mountain, Rosebud, Word Riot, Flashquake, Fiction Fix, Frostwriting, and several themed anthologies. She can be found at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/. Her latest eBook are Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir and 365 Affirmations for the Writer.

As promised: we got snowed! Perhaps blasted would be more like it. The wind painted the sides of the house with a layer of heavy wet snow. It’s splattered on the screen and windows. Right now outside the sky is a fervent blue and there is bright sunshine. Everything is buried—even my boots. I put them out in the shed on Sunday because they were just taking up space on my door mat. I’ll have to dig my way out to the shed before I dig my way out to the garage and before I dig out the car. Last night when it was still hammering down I saw a flash of light and then thunder. I hadn’t heard thundersnow in a few years. I recalled a time when I was in high school, I’d have to have been at least 16 to drive, that I drove out to the mall and bought a pair of snow boots that were on sale. They were canary yellow and zipped up the front and were cheap because it was already April. April! Past the time of snow I thought—just as I reckoned the other day when I moved my boots to the shed. But a...

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale! March 5, 2022 - March 11, 2023 Fiction is FREE all other books 50% off go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chicagojane to view my books Jane Hertenstein Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 90 published stories, a combination of fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre both micro and macro. In addition she has published a YA novel, Beyond Paradise, and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. She is a 2-time recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. She also is in demand as a seminar teacher for Flash Memoir. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Hunger Mountain, Rosebud, Word Riot, Flashquake, Fiction Fix, Frostwriting, and several themed anthologies. She can be found at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/. Her latest eBook are Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir and 365 Affirmations for the Writer.

We’re being teased. One day it is birdsong and walking outside with no hat or gloves to the next day biting winds. I drag my lawn chair out of the shed in order to sit on the deck in the warm sun and drink my tea, only hours later to inside when a cloud passes overhead. In the past two weeks we’ve had snow, freezing rain, an ice storm, and now waiting on a snow storm predicted to dump up to a foot of heavy wet accumulation. Even the birds are subdued. The last heavy winds knocked the squirrel’s nest out of the tall hardwood next door. Temps are right around the freezing mark. Highs and lows collide. Writing this I had a movie memory flash—that moment in Enchanted April when the two women journeying to Italy in a torrential rain awake the next morning to brilliant sunshine, warmth, to Spring. I await that moment—it won’t be today.

Changing the Potty: Out with the old, in with the new *TRIGGER WARNING: graphic content The whole idea of a composting toilet means you are going to be far more acquainted with your inner workings than most people. I’ve had to make sure about keeping solids and liquids separate. This is done by opening a “trapdoor” pretty much under the bum for solids to drop into, then closing the door when going number 1. Tissue or TP goes into the solids bin. This actually doesn’t breakdown as rapidly as the poo and, therefore, when emptying the toilet is mostly what I’m seeing. For me the process of emptying the solids bin has to be reckoned with about every 6 weeks. I know when that is coming up by the tension placed upon the agitator and a “fill” line. Let me explain. After adding to the solids bin, I will with my foot rotate an agitator bar with in the bin that gives everything a good stir. I give it 3 or 4 rotations, mixing everything up. At first it is like gliding through cloud, but a...