The other day I got kicked by a horse, a recently-gelded Arabian named T’Challa. I’m sure, to him, I deserved it. I was, after all, messing with his feet, where, common equine wisdom says, a horse’s brain is really located. It takes a lot of trust, that, willingly giving over your capacity for fight orContinue reading “A kick in the pants”
Author Archives: Janna Urschel
This is my face
I was 40 before I had the courage, finally, to show my face. All of it, as it is. It’s something I had to learn from my daughters, and it started with the simplest question: “mommy, why do you do that?” Why re-color my skin with foundation and my lids with eyeshadow, why draw circlesContinue reading “This is my face”
Shampoo Bars Rock! (Episode 1)
Disclaimer: none of this is paid advertising. This is just me going fangirl (if I’d said fanwoman you wouldn’t have known what I was talking about, but it’s the better word, so everybody start using it!) on an obsession: shampoo bars! Why am I gaga over a lump of glycerin? Little to no packaging (dependingContinue reading “Shampoo Bars Rock! (Episode 1)”
On words
“[T]hese short insignificant words also expressed something, words with short wings for their heavy body of meaning, inadequate to carry them far and thus alighting awkwardly upon the very common objects that surrounded them and were to their inexperienced touch so massive: but who knows (so they thought as they pressed the parasol into theContinue reading “On words”
Fiction made over: a manifesto
Fiction needs a makeover. It’s worn minor variations of the same tired face for the last few centuries, at least: man against nature, man against man, man against self. That’s a lot of man. And a lot of against. It’s a lot of dualities. Dichotomies have always made me uncomfortable: how on earth can multiversalityContinue reading “Fiction made over: a manifesto”
On Peace 2
This past June we adopted a husky-malamute-kitchen sink from the wonderful TrueBlue Pet Rescue in Aurora, Colorado. The name she came with, Shiloh, means “peace” in Hebrew. Given the number of favorite shoes she’s ingested, the number of times she has induced heart conditions by slipping out the door and into traffic, and the radicalContinue reading “On Peace 2”
Slow the fuck down!
Lately I feel like the proverbial lemming being swept along in an accelerationist tide. Where are we going, and why do we need to get there so fast? I am the child of a different era. (When my children want to refer to something that happened in the deep past, like corsets or cave drawings,Continue reading “Slow the fuck down!”
Want
I may be starting a theme here, but apparently I have a fraught relationship with holidays in general! In our lean years, when Matt and I were in grad school and the kids were in those early years, just beginning to appreciate Christmas magic, I relished Christmas as the opportunity to finally say “yes” toContinue reading “Want”
Less is Less
For five of our seven years in Alaska, Matt and I lived in a dry cabin. This means we did not have running water. This means we had to haul our own from town and learn to really conserve what we used. This also means we used an outhouse and had no shower. Thank goodness,Continue reading “Less is Less”
Occam Goes Razorless
Part of the quest to find more just ways to live with the others whose lives and being permeate our own is to make adjustments in my life that acknowledge and respect those others. For me, this means developing some new habits that use more renewable resources, and fewer of them, and to produce lessContinue reading “Occam Goes Razorless”
Life in the Multiverse 