Welcome to the MadCity Writer Blog…where I write about whatever catches my fancy.
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What I’m Watching Now: Two Great TV Shows About Geneology
Shortly after I got married – eons ago – I became obsessed with researching my family history. That was back in the days before home computers. To get records, I had to request microfiche film from our local Mormon church, send letters overseas with return...
What I’m Reading Now: Of Mice and Men
No, I’m not repeating high school. But I had recently read an article in the NewYork Times by an English teacher at a public school in Manhattan. Claire Needell Hollander said this: We’d just finished John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” When we read...
An Interview with Author Geraldine Brooks
On April 22, I posted a review of a wonderful book by Geraldine Brooks called People of the Book. I was so taken with her story that I immediately contacted the author through her publicist at Viking/Penguin, Louise Braverman. What I had not thought to take into...
In the Words of Belly Dancer Arielle Juliette …
I reported in my April 19th blog about the joyous performance of the belly dance students of the Dance Life & Fitness Studio owned by dancer/instructor Arielle Juliette. Belly Dancer Arielle Juliette Arielle takes great pride in her students and used the...
What I’m Reading Now: People of the Book
As I said in an earlier post, I like a book that challenges me. I am most entertained when I am taken to a place or time or into the life of someone that is new to me. I also enjoy a book that employs extraordinary writing. Geraldine Brooks’ 2009...
Belly Dance: A Celebration of Womanhood
I had a fun, new, and most unusual—for me--experience this weekend. My daughter-in-law Hiroko invited me to a performance of her belly dance class. That’s right. Belly dance! The studio where she takes belly dance lessons is Dance Life Studio & Fitness, in...
My Day with Longfellow
Sometimes research for a book can take an author on a most interesting journey. Last week when I was in Boston my daughter, a librarian, told me about a series of brown bag poetry readings happening at the Longfellow House in Cambridge in honor of NationalPoetry...
Guest Blogger: Mary Joy Johnson Reflects on Author Maddy Hunter’s New Book
My sister-in-law and mystery-co-writer, Mary Joy, had an opportunity to attend an author event at Madison’s own Booked For Murder this weekend featuring local mystery writer Maddy Hunter. Mary Joy was so enthused about the experience that I asked her to write a...
What I’m Watching Now: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
I discovered the delightfully unique detective series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith several years ago. The heroine, Precious Ramotswe, is a one of a kind detective. The stories, set in Botswana, Africa, move languidly through the...