When Friendships End
Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that. – Ally Condie A friendship that can end never really began – Publius Syrus … Read More
Laryngitis
How do you teach an ESL class when you have no voice? It’s easy. Sort of [The “bonus” scenes from At Home on the Kazakh Steppe continue with this one from my first semester.] They put … Read More
A New Look At Friendship?
The Gestalt Prayer, penned in 1969 by the granddaddy of Gestalt Therapy, Fritz Perls, floated in psychotherapy circles for many years. Some embraced it as a necessary reality; others shunned it as harsh. I won’t give you the details … Read More
The Four Stages of Friendship
Friendship is one of the themes in my memoir, At Home on the Kazakh Steppe. And one I wanted to investigate a bit further. Hence, a blog post on it. In preparing for this series on friendship, I read … Read More
On the Train to Zhezkazgan
This could be Kansas. It could be any of my familiar Great Plains states except there are no crops. I see nothing growing at all — no wheat, no soybeans, no corn — no life of any sort except the … Read More
Friendship
“Why did you do all this for me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.” “You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.” ― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web … Read More
Meeting Gulzhahan
For the next few weeks (or months) I’ll be popping in on Fridays with a Deleted Scene from my memoir, At Home on the Kazakh Steppe. Let’s call them the “lost deleted scenes.” As I put together my new ebook … Read More
Our First Friend
A friend is a present you give yourself. Robert Louis Stevenson Friendship is a recurring theme in my memoir, At Home on the Kazakh Steppe, and a topic I’ve been fascinated by, professionally, for over thirty years. And there is … Read More
The Sheep’s Head
Today I offer the last of my Deleted Scenes. But, to go out with a bang, this scene was deleted twice, a few years apart. Can you tell which came first? (ostensibly the weaker of the two) All those guessing will be put … Read More