Articles written by Janet Kurtz
Y2K and 2023
On the last night of a year, I traditionally write down my reflections while others write down resolutions. In my lifetime, the most impressive turning of the calendar came when the millennium changed. It was …
If Not Now, When?
Two years ago, I planned to throw my book a grand coming out party and then, head back to Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, to reunite with my first Spanish-speaking friends – the ones that, unbeknownst to …
November Traditions
November. My month. November, trying to push October’s startling yellows, reds, and oranges to the ground in gusts of 40 m.p.h. winds from the west. November clouds seem darker, perhaps because they harbor possibilities of …
Celebrating: Día de la Raza
It’s in the air. Change. The mercury falls to the number 32. The clock reads 6:20 a.m., but light has not returned to the morning like it did just a few weeks ago. The coyotes …
Migration Connects Us
Robert burst into the kitchen, “The monarchs are here! They’re in the prairie on the Blazing Stars!” I put down the zucchini I was shredding for lunch, wiped my hands on my apron, and grabbed …
Joyful Fatalism
“What I believe in is ‘joyful fatalism’ – my own term,” Patti told me as we caught up after a 37-year-haitus. In 1985, Patti and I were Spanish teachers, she in Iowa and I, in …
Best Laid Plans (Organ Recital 101)
A Sunday in late June, anticipated since the dark, icy days of January, finally arrived with the blue skies and green grass expected of such a day in Minnesota. The enthusiastic committee members had spent …
June Wedding – a la mejicana
A thunderstorm roared through this morning, knocking out the electricity, uprooting a dozen trees, and producing excellent mosquito hatch conditions. This is exactly the type of morning you don’t want to wake up to if …
Spring Melts
Life is returning to my tundra. Like old friends, the cooing of the mourning dove greets me, mixed with the peenting of the snipe on my walks down gravel roads. Robins land on the overhead …