17 Favorites of 2017

As this year comes to a close (some might say thankfully), I’ve once again chosen my most popular posts of 2017, based on visits, comments, Tweets and Facebook likes.

I always do appreciate your support and comments – what was your favorite? — Sallie

My Family

As this year comes to a close (some might say thankfully), I've once again chosen my most popular posts of 2017, based on visits, comments, Tweets and Facebook likes.

Acting Christmas

Something in our basic human nature calls for ritual celebration with other people, even if the other people are strangers.

Eating Alone

Last night I noticed how a repetitive task—each leaf pulled off the stalk, dipped in French dressing, and eaten—demands a particular sort of attention.

Digging In

Certainly my methods of research are sometimes unorthodox… but I am not saddled with the literal-minded over-reliance on facts that a PhD sometimes confers.

Women

Why I Didn’t Get Pregnant

We have spent several decades trying to undo the pernicious syndrome that blamed the victim for these attacks… but our attempts falter when common sense is thrown to the wind.

My Harveys

My story is in different ways horrible from the gross physical attacks perpetrated by men I would not honor with the term, “sick.”

Ugly Words

The only possible solution is radical, and like all radical ideas, it is impractical and idealistic, like some of the programs that will be cut.

Doris Duke and Rich People’s Secrets

Our culture is unjust because we, its citizens, are satisfied for it to be that way.

Kentucky

Adventurer / Adventuresses

The threats we still face from the dominant culture, the insults and violence, have not stopped us. We still go for the outer air.

New Mexico

We Did It

On Wednesday, the Santa Fe City Council passed, unanimously, a resolution reaffirming our status as a Sanctuary City and spelling out exactly what this means.

Saving a Dream: Making a Ranch, Apache Mesa NM

An escape, a refuge, to write my next two books seemed not a luxury but a necessity…

We Have Done It Before

We rounded up men who had committed no crimes, on suspicion only. We are doing it again.

Politics

Tea Cake

There is something about Donald Trump that makes his misogyny, vulgarity and ignorance seem not only amusing, perhaps somehow alluring.

41%

We elected him. We can’t comfort ourselves with signs that say, “Not My President.”

Girl vs. Bull

I know Doris Duke would have enjoyed seeing the statue of a little girl confronting the bull of Wall Street.

One Beakful at a Time

I’ve found a solution to these times that will work for me, and perhaps be helpful to all of you. It’s the example of the hummingbird.

We March / We Dance

Let’s all smile as we recognize that the violence of this backlash represents the enormous progress we women have made in the past century.

Writing

The Silver Swan: Searching for Doris Duke

Changing the title of my biography of Doris Duke, especially after more than six years of work, is a big deal.

Doris Duke Goes to Press

My relief in learning that The Silver Swan will be published next June prompts me to rejoice like old-time newspaper editors when the daily edition was put to bed.

In Kentucky, My Family, New Mexico, Politics, Women, Writing