Welcome to Nourishing Stories

Nourishing Stories is my monthly email newsletter. It’s not a run-down of headlines or a list of items to buy, but a few minutes spent pondering the big questions, savoring some good writing and feeling inspired by delicious seasonal recipes. I’ve dabbled in a few newsletter formats over the years, but last February I stirredContinue reading “Welcome to Nourishing Stories”

A Thrilling Peek Into a Taboo World

Molly Roden Winter dazzles with her debut. You may want to look away — but she’ll keep you turning the pages “It’s been almost two years since I first saw Matt, but I can hardly remember the before times, when I wasn’t caught in a constant swirl of secret lust and mother’s guilt.” This book.Continue reading “A Thrilling Peek Into a Taboo World”

March 2021 Newsletter

The Gift of Hearing Others’ Stories In my work as a magazine writer, I interview people from all walks of life. We sit down, often in their living rooms or offices or a nearby coffee shop. I pull out my notebook and push record on my phone app, and out flow the stories. The big momentsContinue reading “March 2021 Newsletter”

February 2021 Newsletter

Lessons of the Stumbling Stones In Isabel Wilkerson’s acclaimed new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, she shares the story of the stumbling stones. In 1992, German artist Gunter Demnig, began commemorating the lives of Sinti and Roma people who were murdered by the Nazi regime. The project soon expanded to include all who were killed by Nazis: Jews,Continue reading “February 2021 Newsletter”

January 2021 Newsletter

Seeing Stars There has always been something mysterious about the night sky. Something inscrutable. Ancient. Lost. Staring into its pinpricks of light feels to me like trying to read a scroll of hieroglyphs.  That’s how it feels. But I know it’s not impossible to discover the heavens’ secrets. Plenty of people peer into the inky expanse and seeContinue reading “January 2021 Newsletter”

December 2020 Newsletter

Reading Books Is Our Super Power I was a confused and awkward middle schooler (weren’t we all?), who struggled to make friends and to understand the world outside my tiny experience of it. I was always saying the wrong words, doing the wrong things, ending up in places I didn’t want to be. Where I feltContinue reading “December 2020 Newsletter”

November 2020 Newsletter

More Positive Than My Pup It is a bright, warm day in my smallish backyard. The sun is shining, new grass has sprouted, squirrels and birds flit over and between bare tree branches. This is a wonderful place to while away a few hours — especially if you are a five-month-old puppy. There are sticks toContinue reading “November 2020 Newsletter”

October 2020 Newsletter

Being Your Best On Thursday nights, my middle child has ballet classes and my youngest heads to soccer. Her dad drives her, staying to watch, and the dog goes along for a walk. Which leaves me completely, deliciously, unbelievably alone for a full hour-and-a-half. It seems crazy that I am so thirsty for this sip ofContinue reading “October 2020 Newsletter”

September 2020 Newsletter

Grow Where You’re Planted I am interviewing small business owners for a magazine story I’m working on. As I listen, I marvel at how each of them is saying the same words to me when I ask how they decided to keep their doors open in March when state regulations and customer fears and a completelyContinue reading “September 2020 Newsletter”

July 2020 Newsletter

Opening Up to New Possibilities It is just before sunset and ribbons of bright orange streak through low puffy clouds. I am walking on a foot bridge across the breathtaking James River in downtown Richmond, Va. Water courses over barely visible boulders. Mama duck paddles her babies to a stand of weeds to search for bugs. An ospreyContinue reading “July 2020 Newsletter”