Zinta Aistars's Blog, page 38
January 10, 2012
The Blessings of Disappointing Mama
by Zinta Aistars(Artwork by Viestarts Aistars)
Mama was disappointed in me. She tried not to show it, but I could sense the slight edge of sadness in her voice when I told her no, I would not go along with her on her romps Sunday afternoon in celebration of her birthday. She had hoped to go out to Three Rivers, to the Latvian Center Garezers there, to join in an after-holiday party. She did love her parties. I heard her sigh over the phone and reluctantly agree to my invitation to stop by my...
Mama was disappointed in me. She tried not to show it, but I could sense the slight edge of sadness in her voice when I told her no, I would not go along with her on her romps Sunday afternoon in celebration of her birthday. She had hoped to go out to Three Rivers, to the Latvian Center Garezers there, to join in an after-holiday party. She did love her parties. I heard her sigh over the phone and reluctantly agree to my invitation to stop by my...
January 7, 2012
With My Head in the Clouds
Photos by Zinta Aistars
from Asylum Lake, Portage, Michigan
Busy, yes, as always, but why not take a moment, steal a few if I must, to walk in the woods? Breathe in that cool, feel that solid earth beneath my feet, tangle with the trees, reflect in the sheen of ice on the lake, but perhaps most of all to look up, up, up at the rare blue of a winter sky and float there with the clouds ...
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." ~ Richard Brautigan
"Clouds come floating into my life, n...
from Asylum Lake, Portage, Michigan
Busy, yes, as always, but why not take a moment, steal a few if I must, to walk in the woods? Breathe in that cool, feel that solid earth beneath my feet, tangle with the trees, reflect in the sheen of ice on the lake, but perhaps most of all to look up, up, up at the rare blue of a winter sky and float there with the clouds ...
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." ~ Richard Brautigan
"Clouds come floating into my life, n...
January 2, 2012
Author Interview on WMUK 102.1 FM with Vic Foerster
Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories
Isle Royale, just North of Michigan's upper peninsula, is one of the least visited national parks in the country. But writer and arborist Vic Foerster has been visiting the island almost every year for 40 years. Zinta Aistars of The Smoking Poet sat down with Foerster to discuss his new book Naked in the Stream , a collection of short stories about his experience in the wilderness that is Isle Royale.
This interview aired on WMUK 102.1 FM radio, Kalamaz...
January 1, 2012
2012: As the World Ends ... and Begins Again
by Zinta Aistars
Lorena and Derek's "mirte" or Myrtle, symbol of
long life and hope in Latvian folkloreThe world, some say, is supposed to end in 2012. Maybe so. The world as we know it, at least. That's the way I like to think of it, that we are leaving behind an era and are now stepping across the threshold into a new one. This one, I hope, is an era of enlightenment. That is my wish for humankind, that we will have at long last learned a few valuable lessons from our muddled and too-violent...
Lorena and Derek's "mirte" or Myrtle, symbol of long life and hope in Latvian folkloreThe world, some say, is supposed to end in 2012. Maybe so. The world as we know it, at least. That's the way I like to think of it, that we are leaving behind an era and are now stepping across the threshold into a new one. This one, I hope, is an era of enlightenment. That is my wish for humankind, that we will have at long last learned a few valuable lessons from our muddled and too-violent...
December 26, 2011
A Promise to Love
by Zinta Aistars
Derek and Lorena
When the two of them talked about it not being all about sunshine and happiness, then I knew these two were keepers, that their life together would be a success. My mama's heart sang.
Derek had asked my daughter Lorena to marry him a couple days prior to Christmas, and they had kept it all hush hush until they arrived at my house on Friday evening, December 23rd. Lorena stood in the kitchen with a mischievous little Mona Lisa smile on her lips, and Derek perche...
Derek and LorenaWhen the two of them talked about it not being all about sunshine and happiness, then I knew these two were keepers, that their life together would be a success. My mama's heart sang.
Derek had asked my daughter Lorena to marry him a couple days prior to Christmas, and they had kept it all hush hush until they arrived at my house on Friday evening, December 23rd. Lorena stood in the kitchen with a mischievous little Mona Lisa smile on her lips, and Derek perche...
December 22, 2011
In Good Time
by Zinta Aistars
Rough day. If anything could go wrong today at the office, it went extra wrong. Murphy's Law had settled like a dark cloud overhead. By lunchtime, I was questioning everything. Including myself, and that's never fun. Every decision, past, present or future, seemed iffy. Today was the kind of day that I felt so far from my best dreams that they were a fading pinpoint in the next universe.
Five o'clock and the end of the work day couldn't feel sweeter. With a sigh, I was out the...
Rough day. If anything could go wrong today at the office, it went extra wrong. Murphy's Law had settled like a dark cloud overhead. By lunchtime, I was questioning everything. Including myself, and that's never fun. Every decision, past, present or future, seemed iffy. Today was the kind of day that I felt so far from my best dreams that they were a fading pinpoint in the next universe. Five o'clock and the end of the work day couldn't feel sweeter. With a sigh, I was out the...
December 20, 2011
Announcing! Fall/Winter 2011-12 Issue of The Smoking Poet!
"Words that turn the page to flame."
Pottery by Ed Gray (Jikiwe)
www.thesmokingpoet.com Something about a New Year … a clean slate. Whatever didn't meet our hopes and standards in the previous year can be left behind, marked "lesson learned," and we can move ahead with reinvigorated creativity. Think of it as a rewrite—writers get that. Almost nothing comes off the pen, or the keyboard, without room for improvement, and it's the rewrite that brings polish to the pearl. 2011 was an...
Pottery by Ed Gray (Jikiwe)www.thesmokingpoet.com Something about a New Year … a clean slate. Whatever didn't meet our hopes and standards in the previous year can be left behind, marked "lesson learned," and we can move ahead with reinvigorated creativity. Think of it as a rewrite—writers get that. Almost nothing comes off the pen, or the keyboard, without room for improvement, and it's the rewrite that brings polish to the pearl. 2011 was an...
December 15, 2011
Kalamazoo Foods Market on Second Wave
by Zinta Aistars
Southwest Michigan's Second Wave has published my article about the Kalamazoo Foods Market. I do so enjoy writing articles about fresh food!
Photo by Erik Halladay of Damon Geary at the Kalamazoo Foods Market
Kalamazoo Foods Market keeps it fresh through the winter
by Zinta Aistars
Thursday, December 15, 2011
During the summer months local food fans get used to fresh produce. At the Kalamazoo Foods Market the opportunity to find local produce extends for months to come. Zi...
Southwest Michigan's Second Wave has published my article about the Kalamazoo Foods Market. I do so enjoy writing articles about fresh food!
Photo by Erik Halladay of Damon Geary at the Kalamazoo Foods Market Kalamazoo Foods Market keeps it fresh through the winter
by Zinta Aistars
Thursday, December 15, 2011
During the summer months local food fans get used to fresh produce. At the Kalamazoo Foods Market the opportunity to find local produce extends for months to come. Zi...
December 12, 2011
Healing Between the Lines
by Zinta Aistars
No better editor than the one who can gently point out all the rifts and fault lines in your manuscript and still remain a cherished friend. I'm lucky. After dinner this weekend, I sat down with my friend, the esteemed editor, to go extensively over the manuscript I'd recently finished—what I had half-jokingly called my fantasy autobiography. Past and present truth leading into an imagined future.
And we writers all, without exception, need such an editor. Any who think this s...
No better editor than the one who can gently point out all the rifts and fault lines in your manuscript and still remain a cherished friend. I'm lucky. After dinner this weekend, I sat down with my friend, the esteemed editor, to go extensively over the manuscript I'd recently finished—what I had half-jokingly called my fantasy autobiography. Past and present truth leading into an imagined future. And we writers all, without exception, need such an editor. Any who think this s...
December 7, 2011
On Becoming a Hood Ornament
by Zinta Aistars
His light was a solid red. Mine, the sign at the other end of the crosswalk, read WALK. I was on my way to a holiday lunch at work, served at the hospital cafeteria, our executives and leadership serving up quarters of chicken and thick slabs of prime rib with wild rice, a medley of vegetables, croissant with butter, greens with dried cranberries, and raspberry cheesecake. It's a delicious meal, and all the employees show up ... there are, count 'em, about 18,000 of us. Yet ea...
His light was a solid red. Mine, the sign at the other end of the crosswalk, read WALK. I was on my way to a holiday lunch at work, served at the hospital cafeteria, our executives and leadership serving up quarters of chicken and thick slabs of prime rib with wild rice, a medley of vegetables, croissant with butter, greens with dried cranberries, and raspberry cheesecake. It's a delicious meal, and all the employees show up ... there are, count 'em, about 18,000 of us. Yet ea...
