A Taliswoman Short — Perhaps more than any other of my Taliswomen, Olivia Newton-John has remained frozen in time for me, the same roller-skating muse I adored in Xanadu. I was five years old when I first saw her — so very much larger than life — in Grease. I remember thinking “I’ve never…

or, how I stopped worrying and became a habit coach. — It’s taken me a while to warm up to the term “coach.” Sports have always made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I shudder at the idea of wearing shoes that squeak on a gym floor and a whistle around my neck. That’s why, though I’m living my dream of being a…

A Taliswoman Short — Interview with the Vampire, the glamorous, heart-wrenching, blood-drenched book that introduced the world to the Vampire Lestat and his creator, Anne Rice, was published in 1976. I was far too young to read it then; I’d just been born in 1972, the same year that Anne’s 5-year-old daughter died of a rare sort of leukemia. The blood again. They say that was when Anne became obsessed with blood as a carrier of both death and possibility.

How I Enlisted the Local Police in my Personal Stand Against a Misogynist Bully — Ok. This is a vulnerable and icky story, but I believe that sharing it may be helpful. Basically, I got manipulated and duped by a little low-vibe man back in March. Long story short: I’d been intentionally celibate for 7 years, trying to get my life together and get in…

the wraPUP from LeahLand — Hello Gentle Reader! As each new month begins, I make a plan and write down my intentions and goals for the next 30ish days. Then, at the end of each month, I sit down and do a reckoning of how things went for me. Sometimes I’m right on track. More…

On the magic of finding the perfect spiritual group — Although I often say “I’ve never been a joiner,” that’s not exactly the truth. My differences and peculiarities have made it difficult for me to fit in and function well in groups. From that statement alone, the careful reader will glean that I’ve unsuccessfully tried to join in on the…

A Taliswoman Short — At 9 years old, I spent a lot of time at the library in my tiny Texas town. It was in an old, creaky house, and I was usually the only one there with Darlene, the librarian. It was there that I first saw Alice Walker’s The Color Purple in…