Whisper campaigns are rampant in both Rockingham and Loudon Counties about the possible fate of Beatrice Burchett. Public morale and confidence in the police are threatened at this time, due to silence and perceived lack of investigation.
And still, a twenty-one-year-old is not in class with her peers where she belongs.
True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner: audiobook format, narrated by the author, and Kindle format
Use my Audible link to receive it for free in audiobook format with a free 30-day trial membership to Audible: audibletrial/mightbecupcakes
Some books entertain you, some books distract you, and some books, if you are very, very lucky and find them, captivate you, and take your breath away from the very first page. You recognize them–and it almost feels as if they recognize you.
–Carla Hufstedler, episode 26, Pilgrim at Little Piney Creek
The Little Piney River is a 7.6-mile-long tributary of the Piney River in Amherst County in the U.S. state of Virginia. Via the Piney and Tye rivers, it is part of the James River watershed. (Wikipedia)
The Piney River is known around here as the “Big Piney”. Naturally. And notice we are so out in the country that the map just says “2” for “District 2”.
Walden (free in ebook format), by Henry David Thoreau — I once spent the afternoon at Walden Pond, and that place truly has an aura about it. I highly recommend putting it on your bucket list. In the spirit of nature writing, here’s the facts:
Kettle hole formation lake, formed by glaciers retreating 10,000 to 12,000 years ago
Depth: 108 feet (33 m)
Surface area: 2,657,157 sq feet (246,858 m²)
Shore length: 1.70 miles (2.74 km)
Also recommended in the spirit of this book
The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Philip Lopate — the personal essay is a window into the private human condition. My best English teachers gave me scores of essays to read, from antiquity to modern American history, and they taught me much about what it is to be human, and to communicate that humanity with emotional power.
my essays shelf:
It is winter proper; the cold weather, such as it is, has come to stay. I bloom indoors in the winter like a forced forsythia; I come in to come out. At night I read and write, and things I have never understood become clear; I reap the harvest of the rest of the year’s planting…The mountains’ bones poke through, all shoulder and knob and shin. All that summer conceals, winter reveals.
—Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Little Piney River, January 8, 2018, taken by Carla’s husband
It has always been a happy thought that the creek runs on all night now every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.
—-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Little Piney River, January 8, 2018, taken by Carla’s husband
Putting you in the mood to put pen to paper? Good!
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard herself: Kindle, Audible (also narrated by Tavia Gilbert), paperback
And you’re going to need a paper companion for your initial forage into your environment. I suggest these guided ones, which I plan upon playing with myself, and may discuss my adventures with in a future episode: The Pocket Scavenger and How to Be an Explorer of the World, both by Keri Smith.
And we the people are so vulnerable. Our bodies are shot with mortality. Our legs are fear and our arms are time. These chill humors seep through our capillaries, weighting each cell with an icy dab of nonbeing, and that dab grows and swelss and sucks the cell dry. That is why physical courage is so important–it fills, as it were, the holes–and why it is so invigorating. The least brave act, chance taken and passage won, makes you feel loud as a child.
Perhaps it is all balanced as it should be, perhaps everything is happening exactly as it should. And, to reference the minor prophet Ferris Bueller, if you don’t open our eyes, life goes pretty fast, you’ll miss so very much. You can choose to see pain and horror or beauty and mystery in every process, every moment while still being bluntly honest about what’s happening.
–Carla Hufstedler, episode 26, Pilgrim at Little Piney Creek
Sometimes the Bible in the hands of one man is worse than a whisky in the hands of another…There are just some kinds of men who—who’re so busy worryng about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.
We had been everywhere. We had really seen nothing. And I catch myself thinking today that our long journey had only defiled with a sinuous trail of slime the lovely, trustful, enormous country that by then, in retrospect, was no more to us but than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined tour books, old tires, and her sobs in the night—every night, every night—the moment I feigned sleep.
A huge thank you to Bev Vincent, my King consultant for this episode. He is the authority on all things King, and I highly recommend every one of his books. Here’s his work on the King:
Audible recommendation for your free book to keep, for trying one month of membership free (and supporting my podcast, thank you so very much!): click through audibletrial.com/mightbecupcakes, and choose either Dolores Claiborne, narrated by the wonderful character actor Frances Sternhagen, or Gerald’s Game, narrated by the equally strong Lindsay Crouse. You may also support me by purchasing them through Audible’s partner, Amazon, and again, I thank you:
“The Yellow-Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one of the finest short stories written in the English language…hopefully done some justice as read by me.
This entry is part 3 of 2 in the series Girl Scouting
On my honor
I will try
to serve God and my country,
to help people at all times,
and to live by the Girl Scout Law.
my mom swearing me in as a Brownie, aka me, saying the Girl Scout Promise for the first time
I will do my best to be
Honest and fair
Friendly and helpful
Considerate and caring
Courageous and strong
Responsible for what I say and do
And to respect myself and others
Respect authority
Use resources wisely
Make the world a better place
And be a sister to ever Girl Scout.
My husband made a cookie-sales goal wager with our Cadettes. They won. At our campout, they got to shear his braid and shave his beard.…and there goes the beard.
This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series My Writing
And they were all rich. Rich in looks, rich in opportunity, rich in already wasted opportunities, rich in network, and rich in funds. And rich in frustrations, many of which they could not even name.
True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner: audiobook format, narrated by the author, and Kindle format
Use my Audible link to receive it for free in audiobook format with a free 30-day trial membership to Audible: audibletrial/mightbecupcakes
Susan McCain‘s website is quietrev.com, which has tons of resources, including a introvert/ambivert/extrovert test. Take it and see what result you get–see where you fall on the spectrum! I did, and again came out as an introvert.
From her site:
It matters because introversion and extroversion lie at the heart of human nature. One scientist refers to them as “the north and south of temperament.” When you make life choices that are congruent with your temperament—and allow others to do the same—you unleash vast stores of energy.
Conversely, when you spend too much time battling your own nature, the opposite happens: you deplete yourself.
…
by Anais Nin
by Toni Morrison
by Soren Kierkegaard
, 
, paper
