At the Gates of Hell and of Heaven

But no, the big entrance door swung open and out of it came a woman dressed in a long black gown with a white covering on her head. I blinked, thinking surely I was dreaming. But she was still there, greeting us as we climbed out, saying “Welcome to the Sisterhood of Mary.” And with that welcome, in the space of a single day, we passed through the gates of heaven after escaping the gates of hell.

That Hideous Strength II

I learned so much from attending the village school. It was the late 1960s and to those Swiss children, we might just as well have been aliens from another planet. I hated that school, to me, they were all aliens, too. Here’s how I found out that it’s what’s beneath the surface that unites us, or, “the content of our character,” not the facade.

That Hideous Strength

That was the moment when I discovered magic. Sitting in that old thatched farmhouse in the English countryside, in an overstuffed chair in front of a crackling fire, the rain beating down outside…

Girl Power on the Nile

reflections on living in luxor Here is an article I wrote for Egyptian Streets about teaching boxing to girls here Luxor Boxing Girls: How I Punched My Way Out of Christian American Patriarchy | Egyptian Streets I love this Nile River life of feluccas, temples, and interconnecting villages and canals. I love running along the […]

Love & Lunacy on the Nile: Jellabiya Time

A Visit to the Tailor When I was in Egypt at age ten, that would be in 1967, my siblings and I found the clothes men wore to be very funny. They looked like pajamas to us, long striped cotton garments,. Women were covered from head to toe, all in black. In the villages of […]

Luxor Life

Today early morning, I run through the village my regular route to the Nile. People cry, “Very good, sport!” with a thumb’s up. A boy on a donkey runs beside me for a bit. Past the awakening shops to a place in the shade where sweet Turkish coffee awaits me, along with a breakfast of […]

Luxor East & West

The sights, sounds and colors of Luxor, east and west.

Egypt at Last

Wednesday I return to Egypt for two months to continue work on my childhood memoir INTO THE WORLD and to start on Throne of Desire, fifth book in the Night Angels Chronicles series. This is a photo of my parents in Egypt, June 1967, shortly before the 6 Day War. How well I remember this! […]

My Infinity

In a few weeks I will be taking off for two months in Egypt. It’s time to start up the blogging again in preparation…. I was last in Egypt at age ten. I can imagine much has changed since then. Of course, the monuments of Luxor, where I will be staying, will not […]

INTO THE WORLD

My World Project New Millennium Writings When I was awarded the New Millennium Writings Nonfiction Award for Reflections from Istanbul, an excerpt from my childhood memoir INTO THE WORLD, I was asked to write an introduction, something about my motivation and approach to writing. I recently received the print edition of the anthology and I re-read […]