occasional posts by risa aratyr
risa’s writing and writings about writing
It shook me up to learn there’s widespread agreement within the scientific community that we — we the planet — have entered a new geological age. The “new age” part is no surprise. I’m an earth-worshipping pagan, fer chrissakes. I’ve been bearing witness to the passing of the old epoch and rise of the … Read more Age of Aquarius, Revisited
I just talked my way out of a job. A big job. A double-digit thousand dollar job. Dimiter and I met on a show about two years back. He’s a pretty extraordinary guy, a Bulgarian-born actor, director, acting coach, musician and gourmet chef, among other things. Dimiter has written a book; a dual-purpose “how-to” … Read more In Decline
My old cell phone was slim, durable, and bare bones basic. It didn’t take pics or double as a computer. It had a calendar, but I rarely referred to it. It would have woken me up or reminded me of appointments, but I never asked it to. It displayed the date and time, sent and … Read more Making it Personal
When I launched my website, I not only invited visitors; I invited comment. I received congrats from distant relations, pats on the back from long lost friends, general shows of support, conspiratorial winks, exclamations of surprise, and a few pithy observations. The latter mostly noted what I’d neglected to mention or given short shrift — … Read more Ashes and Embers
A clump of changes dropped out of the clear blue last August and hit the ground running. By November they’d hit the wall. Midwinter storms left friends and family out in the cold, sorting through the wrack of illness, unemployment, and divorce. It was a mini-diaspora in February, people scattering to the four corners, breaking … Read more The Native’s Return