Life Stories #51: Ellen Stimson
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photo: Natalie Stultz
In this episode of Life Stories, the podcast series where I talk to memoir writers about their lives and the art of writing memoir, Ellen Stimson and I discuss Mud Season—the story of, as the subtitle says, “how one woman’s dream of moving to Vermont, raising children, chickens and sheep, and running the old country store pretty much led to one calamity after another.” And, as I say at the start of our conversation, this memoir does exactly what it says on the cover.
But Stimson got through all those calamities—including getting in way over her head with the whole country store thing—and, when I got to a point where I could ask what she’d tell other people who, like her and her family, decide they want to make a drastic change in their lives, to do something other than what they’re doing, in a place other than where they are now, her response was clear: “Do it.” (That’s not to say she wouldn’t do things differently if she had a second chance, and we talk about that, too…) Stimson’s life story is a great example of recovering from our mistakes and setbacks and eventually find our way to an ideal path.
Listen to Life Stories #51: Ellen Stimson (MP3 file); or download this file directly by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click). You can also subscribe to Life Stories in iTunes, where you can catch up with earlier episodes and be alerted whenever a new one is released. (And if you are an iTunes subscriber, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast!)
4 November 2013 | life stories |
Life Stories #50: Richard Rodriguez
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photo: Timothy Archibald
Though billed as a “spiritual autobiography,” Richard Rodriguez’s Darling might more accurately be described as a collection of essays that combine autobiographical elements with contemplation of a set of major religious concepts—from the ways in which 9/11 created in Rodriguez an awareness of the common ground shared by the three “desert religions” (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) to a nuanced unpacking of his friendship with one woman that leads to a new understanding of his relationship as a gay man to straight women and, through them, to the feminist movement and to the Catholic Church in which he remains a faithful member. Once you’ve joined me for a half-hour or so in conversation with Rodriguez, I hope you’ll be inspired to spend more time with him through the printed page.
In this episode of Life Stories, the podcast series where I talk to memoir writers about their lives and the art of writing memoir, Rodriguez and I discuss how he began weaving his personal experiences into his discussions of public issues, what he’s taken from Pope Francis’s first few months in the Vatican, and about his concerns over how his literary style will go over with readers in an age of increasingly short attention spans. That may not be a completely unjustified fear, but I think there’s always going to be an audience for nuanced explorations of how we make sense of, and forge our identities in, the world around us, and Darling is a stirring example of this genre.
Listen to Life Stories #50: Richard Rodriguez (MP3 file); or download this file directly by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click). You can also subscribe to Life Stories in iTunes, where you can catch up with earlier episodes and be alerted whenever a new one is released. (And if you are an iTunes subscriber, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast!)
25 October 2013 | life stories |
Our Endless and Proper Work is my new book with Belt Publishing about starting (and sticking to) a productive writing practice. 
