The wasps float angrily up through our open windows and bang about between the glass and the curtain. They come all summer long, once or twice each day. I hear the buzz or I see the cat twitch and point. Our fly swatter is neon orange, and when I grab…
22 July 2011 - A Memorial to the Oslo Bombing
On the Monday following the Olso bombing and Utøya massacre, more than 100,000 people converged in front of Rådhusplassen (city hall) to memorialize the victims and support their families. The crowd held long-stemmed roses which they raised to the sky in peaceful defiance again and again. It was, possibly,…
Flying Time
I just couldn't resist. Jonathan and I began dating in 2003, and married in 2004, while I was still in school. We lived in Livermore, 10 minutes from his job, and I commuted to and from UC Davis for the next two years. The round-trip was 160-odd miles, and by…
Mourner
I am free! I am free! These cries bring me to the window of my rooftop flat. The first English words I have understood within a burbling stream of mournful chanting. I learn toward the opening of the window, four inches, no more. The morning air meets my face, cool.…
The Writing Life
"The greatest miracle for me was getting started. I feel - and the anxiety is still vivid to me - that I might easily have failed before I began." ~ V.S. Naipaul, 2001 Nobel Lecture Less than two weeks ago, I graduated from Lesley University with my MFA in Creative…
The Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak
For the last couple of weeks I've been on the American road. Jonathan and I were celebrating my graduation by rolling from state to state in a rental car, eating our combined body weight in cheeseburgers, and visiting lots of friends and family. I'll blog the rest of the trip…
I want you all to be the first to know...
Yeah yeah yeah. In one week, you'll have to refer to me as Master Camp. Until then, plain old Audrey will do. (And no, referring to me as either "plain" or "old" will not be tolerated!) Thank you for supporting me throughout the last two years of this program with…
What I alone love at all...
People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subjects inquires not after what he loves best, but after what he alone loves at all. Annie Dillard What do I alone love at all? The moment in my loneliness when someone reaches out and calls me friend.…