Sallie Bingham

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You are here: Home / Religion / Sitting

Sitting

January 14th, 2016 by Sallie Bingham in Religion 3 Comments

Sitting - Sallie BinghamI don’t remember when I began to sit. For a restless woman, sitting is always a challenge, as it has always been a challenge for me: the big world looms! All kinds of enticements and obligations call! And yet I believe the ten minutes I sit every morning literally save my life.

It’s cold and dark in the early morning here in Santa Fe, although as January progresses, there is a little more light, a pink in the eastern sky before sunrise. A few birds swoop and peep. The twigs on my little apple tree in my yard have fuzzy tips, way too soon; they will certainly be nipped by a late frost. And the snow is deep, soft and pure.

I sit in front of the low alter where, years ago, I arranged the two icons that have been with me since my father gave them to me years ago. I believe he found them in a Boston junk shop. These two wooden ladies, queens perhaps, are without provenance; they may be copies or they may be actual antiques from three hundred years ago, perhaps images of donors placed beside an alter in a church in France. Serene in their silence, they ask nothing of me; they are absorbed in contemplation. One of them still shows traces of the gold paint my oldest son sprayed as a Christmas decoration one winter day in New York.

Sitting - Sallie BinghamThe ladies alone are not enough for me. They belong to an older world of which I am only peripherally a part. I added a brightly-painted Yei, bought in a pueblo gift shop. These mysterious beings preside over ceremonies, disciplinarians and silent observers. We outsiders never really know what they represent—we are not told–, but their authority is clear. And I like this distinctly masculine presence as a counterbalance to the queens.

For a restless woman, sitting is always a challenge... yet I believe the ten minutes I sit every morning literally save my life.

Just out of eyeshot, a deer dancer, also from a pueblo ceremonial, leans down over his sticks. He wears a dear skln on his head, and the two sticks represent the deer’s front feet. I will see his human counterpart at the winter dances that began earlier this month.

These four images center and remind me of the great silence and peace that descend when mind chatter and world chatter fall away.

Natalie Goldberg, an inspiring teacher and writer, reminds me that it is vital to sit for an even longer period when I am very busy. I am never busy, except with imagined tasks and agendas; my time is, remarkably, my own. I feel its weight and its preciousness descending as I light my candle and sit down cross-legged to begin to quiet my mind.

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In Religion Santa Fe Natalie Goldberg

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. James Voyles on Facebook says

    January 14th, 2016 at 8:54 am

    Lovely….

    Reply
  2. Joel Henning on Facebook says

    January 15th, 2016 at 6:34 am

    I agree. Same for a restless man.

    Reply
  3. C. m. Johnson says

    January 15th, 2016 at 8:40 pm

    Ah, peace….

    Reply

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Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

July 6th, 2025
Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
Visiting Linda Stein

Visiting Linda Stein

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Back on October 28th, 2008, I visited artist Linda Stein's studio in New York City and tried on a few of her handmade suits of armor.

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Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

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This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
Taken by the Shawnee Reading

Taken by the Shawnee Reading

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This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

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salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
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Years ago a man I was in love with persuaded me to have a large fish pond dug near my studio. I think it was his attempt to be part of my necessarily solitary life there; like other such attempts it failed—and now I'm left with the fish pond! https://buff.ly/fGgnN39 #Koi #KoiPond

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salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
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Our wisdom outlasts kingdoms and democracies and tyrannies. It is for all places all people and all times. Unfortunately our wisdom can be bought, suborned, which is what I see in all the pretty women around Mr. T. "Lady Wisdom": https://buff.ly/mKAYBnf #HagiaSophia #DonaldTrump

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Sallie Bingham's latest is a captivating account of ancestor's ordeal
Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican

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