Category: Living Creatively

Storytelling and Book Events

Please join us for storytelling events in celebration of the publication of The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Repopulated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones and Powerful Prophetesses. Women take center stage in this innovative collection. The stories in The Rooster Princess and Other Tales put a modern spin on Jewish folklore […]

Music Inspiration

Waterfront Blues Festival

Summer is ending, and soon we’ll be busy with our fall activities. But I find myself reflecting on the summer activities that inspired my creativity. One stands out in my mind—the Waterfront Blue’s Festival. For more than ten years, Alan and I have gone to this festival, except in 2020 of course. Everything from what […]

Brilliant Mistakes

Alan and I went with friends to the Anonymous Theatre Company’s one-night-only production of POTUS a few weeks ago. It was extraordinary. Every year, Anonymous Theatre holds auditions in secret and keeps the cast a secret, even from the other cast members. Each performer then rehearses one-on-one with the director. On the night of the […]

Exciting News!

Monkfish Press will soon publish a book called The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Repopulated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones and Powerful Prophetesses. It’s a short story anthology by my group, the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective. We feature women in this collection of re-imagined traditional Jewish tales, original stories, and personal stories by […]

Drafts and Revisions

I am also excited to share that I finished drafting the manuscript of a new novel. Not only have I finished the first draft, I have also finished the first round of revisions on it. It’s a story about friendship, community, jazz, and cocktails. As with all new manuscripts, more revisions will come, but so far […]

Manhattan Mondays

On July 4, 2023, Alan and I started one of my favorite traditions, Manhattan Monday. Every week, we experiment with different cocktails that riff off of the Manhattan, or occasionally on the Old Fashioned, and then I post about it on social media.  At the time, I thought it might be a fun thing to […]

Distractions and Resolutions

I’ll work on this when my life calms down. Have you ever said that to yourself? I certainly have.  The problem is—my life never calms down. Something always comes up: people schedule meetings that I have to attend, my dog needs more allergy medication, my disabled son needs my help, or I have to go […]

Live Storytelling

Sometimes the things that distract me from writing are good things, such as preparing to tell a story. There are few things that I love more than telling stories to live audiences, but it does take time for me to perfect a story and practice telling it. In the last few months, I have told […]

Benefits of Neurodiversity

To be honest, not all things that distract me are important. Often, thoughts pop into my head or someone says something that sends me down a rabbit hole, and my productivity goes out the window. This isn’t really a surprise considering that I am ADHD. Doctors use the term “internal distractibility” for the distracting thoughts […]

Dealing with Stress

I’ve been quieter here than I’ve wanted to be the past couple of months. Partly it’s due to something positive that has kept me busy—editing a collection of female-centered stories for my group, the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective. Our first book will come out in the fall of 2025, and I have a number of […]

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I’ve been quieter here than I’ve wanted to be the past couple of months. Partly it’s due to something positive that has kept me busy—editing a collection of female-centered stories for my group, the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective. Our first book will come out in the fall of 2025, and I have a number of stories in the collection that I’m telling to live audiences at museums, community centers, and bookstores here in Portland.

All of this is exiting, but it is tempered by my fear for the future. As a feminist and mother of a disabled son and a transgender daughter, I can’t help but worry. Opening the newspaper every morning has become stressful, and I fear that things will get worse before they get better. 

But I can’t let fear take over my life. I need to find a way to keep moving forward, and, hopefully, make a difference along the way. Now is the time to focus on self-care and being supportive of others.