Talking with Kiese Laymon; and when words don't belong together

I’m drafting this post on Tuesday morning, March 28, thinking that in most places in the world, the words “school” and “shooting” never go together, and in most places in the world school shootings are not a thing for which the media provides data and analysis.

Tuesday’s New York Times reported: There is no consensus on what constitutes a mass shooting; groups define it differently, depending on the circumstances.

I am stunned by that sentence. I can’t understand why we live in a society where we need consensus on the meaning of “mass shooting.”

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Last week our dear friend Karin was visiting from Utrecht in the Netherlands. In Washington, we are blessed with cherry blossoms at this time of year. After seeing them in full glory, we stopped off to see a magnificent orchid display at the Hillwood Museum. This museum is the extravagant (mostly Russian) art collection and gardens of the twentieth century heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Here are some of the orchids on display:

WRITING NEWS

I learned so much from my conversation with Christine Pride/Jo Piazza (We are Not Like Them), and Alyson Richman/ Shaunna Edwards (The Thread Collectors) about how they collaborated to write their novels. As I said on air, I can hardly collaborate with myself! If you missed this PEN/Faulkner Literary Conversation, you can find it on YouTube. The link is here.

It was a joy to participate in Temple Sinai DC’s Author’s Roundtable last weekend.

Happy holidays to all who celebrate.

Love, Martha