Loren Rhoads's Blog, page 91
September 9, 2010
Cemetery tours in Northern California
Now is the time to get out and visit your local graveyard! I've put together a list of cemetery tours and lectures in Northern California, but the information isn't easily gleaned. If you catch an error or can suggest a tour I've missed, please let me know.September 11, 10 a.m.Mountain View Cemetery, OaklandExploring Mountain View CemeteryCost: FreeDocent tour led by Gaye Lenahan with ...
September 8, 2010
Cemetery of the Week: Arlington
Arlington National CemeteryArlington, VirginiaOpened June 15, 1864 Founded by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton on the commandeered grounds of Robert E. Lee's family home, Arlington National Cemetery currently spans 624 acres and encompasses more than 300,000 graves. It is the second largest of the national cemeteries and conducts almost 7000 burials annually. Originally ...
September 7, 2010
Cemetery sale
The first of my new cemetery travel essays -- about visiting Jack London's grave -- appears in the new issue of Eleven Eleven. They solicited me! You can order a copy at http://www.cca.edu/academics/graduate/writing/1111
September 1, 2010
Cemetery of the Week
You may know that I started visiting graveyards by accident. A series of missed connections during the first Gulf War resulted in an unanticipated layover in London, where I just happened to pick up a guidebook to Highgate Cemetery. My husband Mason wanted to visit the graveyard because it looked pretty in John Gay's photos. In fact, Highgate was ravishing, full of dramatic marble angels ...
August 19, 2010
Michigan ghost stories
Haunts of Mackinac by Todd Clements My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm a fan of small, locally produced books of legends. Haunts of Mackinac collects Native American legends and ghost stories which span the island's history from its French fur trapping days, through the British occupation of its fort and the War of 1812, past the influx of American missionaries into the current tourist trade. Some of ...
August 6, 2010
It takes an army
I have been blessed with an army of writing teachers. I'm sure I've forgotten some here, but these were so important to my growth as a person and a writer that their names are engraved on my heart. Let this be my thank you to them.Eleanor Perrone, who taught my first creative writing class at Flushing High School and allowed me to "student teach" a session of the class my senior ...
August 4, 2010
So many cemeteries, so little time
Detroit's Mount Elliott Cemetery by Cecile Wendt Jensen My rating: 3 of 5 stars I am glad there is a guide to this old and historic place. Unfortunately for my taste, this book leans more toward genealogy and listing the complete names of strangers who left little mark in history than toward images of the beauties and wonders to be found at this graveyard. That's good if your family ...
July 30, 2010
What a Twisted Web We Weave
My first memory is of a spider. In the memory, it's sunset in the summertime. I'm not sure I'd ever been up that late: Michigan sits on the edge of the Eastern Time zone, so the sky in summer remains light until nearly ten o'clock. In the memory, I am standing on my big girl bed in the first house my parents owned, a tiny two-bedroom in the village of Flushing. They moved ...
July 26, 2010
Good story news!
Not One of Us accepted my story "Catalyst." It will probably appear in the October issue, in time for my birthday."Catalyst" is one my favorite of the Alondra stories. Part of it is set in The Shot-Out Eye, a cafe in Prague where I drank absinthe legally for the first time. The story inverts the alchemical paradigm of the Red King and the White Queen while exploring ...
July 25, 2010
Free Cemetery Lecture Today
Colma's Cypress Lawn Cemetery is hosting Peter Tannen and Terry Hamburg, who will "take us to cemeteries they have visited and share photographs of the outstanding features of those cemeteries, while discussing some of their famous residents."The lecture is at 2 p.m. in Cypress Lawn's Reception Center, 1370 El Camino Real, Colma. Info is available at ...
