Ruth Buchanan's Blog, page 12

In Which an Empty Ketchup Bottle Leads to a Spiritual Epiphany

This weekend as I brunched at a favorite local restaurant, I wasn't expecting a spiritual epiphany. 
When our food arrived, I was in the full throes of storytelling (because when am I not). Still rambling, I picked up the plastic ketchup bottle and gave a squeeze. With a woosh and a splurt, it belched a fine spray of pink mist. I shook it. Empty. 
I absently set the bottle aside with my left hand while, still mid-story, I flung my right hand dramatically outward, palm up. At which poi...

10 Ways to Make Mornings Easier

10. Get enough sleep.
9. Invest in a programmable auto-brew coffee maker; rise only when the brew cycle's done.
8. Find an outfit that works and buy five identical sets; roll out of bed with your eyes closed; zombie-walk to the closet; get dressed in the dark.
7. Contract a short-order cook to arrive every morning and serve up hot meals.
6. Establish family rules for acceptable morning communication (volume, content, frequency); severely punish infractions.
5. Locate your car keys the night before...

If Writers Were Board Games

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Adam Smith / MonopolyAgatha Christie / Guess Who?Douglas Adams / Scattergories Terry Pratchett / BalderdashDorothy L. Sayers / ClueAyn Rand / Cards Against HumanityTruman Capote / TabooChuck Palahniuk / FluxxLewis Carroll / Apples to ApplesEmily Dickinson / Connect 4
Jon Krakauer / Chutes and Ladders
Thor Heyerdahl / Settlers of CatanCharles Dickens / LifeGeorge Bernard Shaw / Trivial PursuitMalcolm Gladwell / Stratego Dr. Seuss / Hink PinksJack Kerouac / Ticket to RideEdgar Alle...

Something on This List Will Make You Laugh

It's Monday. We need this.

Once I accidentally put two pairs of contact lenses in at the same time and thought my eyes were broken.A former student used to give me coffee at Christmas, but wrapped in Victoria's Secret bags so I'd have to carry them home through the halls in the afternoon saying "It's coffee, I promise, it's really just coffee." One foggy morning on the way to school, I accidentally hit a bird with my car. Feeling sad but thinking little of it throughout the day, I was sho...

Here Amidst These Bones

Earlier month, I visited the Paris Catacombs, a municipal ossuary housed in underground quarries. The largest of its kind, this site is neither for the superstitious nor for the faint of heart.

Situated twenty metres below ground, the ossuary contains the remains of millions of Parisians, transferred there gradually between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries as graveyards were being closed because of the risk they posed to public health. The first of these was the cimetière...

The 12 Stages of Jet Lag

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Photo Credits:
Jessie DigginsJapan TimesDMCDNScary Squirrel WorldPinterestGetLOLBuzzfeedPinterestEmpowered PartenrshipsSouthwest ShadowPinterestHuffington Post

Traveling with an Adopted Extended Family

I've done a fair amount of traveling, most of it solo or with one or two carefully-selected travel partners. That's because no matter how well-planned or exotic the trip, it's the company that makes or breaks it. Good travel companions can make the worst situations tolerable and bad ones ruin everything.
I'm currently traveling with a family of five: two adults and three children (although the kids told me they prefer the term very young adults). Naturally, traveling with a family provides an...

One More Ordinary Day

We'll all have one.
A last ordinary day.
It's the day before the accident. The day before the diagnosis. The day before the disappearance. The day before the allegations. The day before the death. The day before our whole reality shifts.
Our last quiet day.
The thing about these days is that we don't recognize them for what they are. They only reveal themselves in retrospect. 
When we consider the tragedies that run like Lines of Demarcation through our lives -- and we all have them -- perhap...

The Opposite of Racism Is Not Passiveness

I recently read a book that encourages readers to think about the present as if it were the past. The premise has proven helpful as a thought experiment. To give just one example, it's simple now to look back at Germany in 1933-1939 and wonder why more good people didn't stand against Nazification. When we wonder such things, perhaps we forget how difficult it is to effect large-scale change as an individual.
Then we turn on the news, and we remember. 
Lately, the news has been nothing but...

When Authors Are Athletes: The Writing/Running Connection

Over the past few years, I've taken up both writing and running. If you've never done either, then the connection may not seem immediately apparent. There are, however, strong parallels between the two.

Music Motivates

Runners fill their devices with playlists designed to pump them up and keep a specific pace. Sometimes the perfect song at the perfect moment inspires a new burst of energy (lately for me, it's been the praise song "Jailbreak").

Writers also find motivation in music. Because...