Five Years a Writer

My friend Penni Mitchell has died. I knew her as feminist, writer, editor and all-round face of feminism in Winnipeg and beyond. She was a force, taken by cancer much too young.  I credit Penni with encouraging me to write and to think about myself as Writer, as I told her in this letter I dropped into her mailbox a couple of years ago. May 17, 2023 Dear Penni: This weekend, I took stock of my writing by creating a ‘record of publication’ that lists what I’ve written and where it’s been published. Doing this made me realize that you played a major role in setting me on this track of writing and then submitting it and then, sometimes, seeing it published. The first piece on my list is the one I wrote about Norma Scarborough for the summer 2009 issue of Herizons . You may or may not recall it as starkly as I do. It went like this: I called you to say that Norma had died and that Herizons should write a tribute or look-back over her life. You said, Why don’t you write it, Amanda? Wh...

We watched the NBC news show Meet the Press on Sunday, which included an interview with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Throughout the questions put to him, he was continually  in the position of having to characterize his relationship with the current president of the United States. Zelensky chose his words carefully. Underneath every one, I sensed both his deep regret the alliance is not stronger and more consistent, and his disdain/pain/disgust that this is how it is these days. He has no choice. He must be diplomatic towards the world power while being loyal to, and proudly representative of, his country. Not an easy line to walk, but walk it Zelensky did — and does. There is no war in our house, but there is, currently, a minor skirmish between us and tiny invaders. It’s pitch black dark when I get up with the cat, then walk quietly with her to the kitchen where she gets food and I make tea, then I creep down the basement stairs and stand still, listening, listening fo...