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Italy Retrospective: More Thoughts on Ordinary Food

Italy Retrospective: More Thoughts on Ordinary Food

October 4, 2013 · by Bethany · in beauty, cultcha, family, food, obsessions, travel

It’s been almost four months since we returned from our Italy trip. I am still digesting,  if you will, the whole thing, especially my happily evolving relationship to food, and foodishness. So I would like to begin a little series…

Renouncing the New Decadence

Renouncing the New Decadence

August 8, 2013 · by Bethany · in art, beauty, cultcha, fear, food, obsessions, religion, zen practice

Last night A and I hung out with our good friends who have a 2nd home across the street, which they usually rent out. When they are not here, they live in the West Village, where they own a well-known…

An Enlarged Heart? Maybe. Maybe Not.

An Enlarged Heart? Maybe. Maybe Not.

March 19, 2013 · by Bethany · in beauty, clothes, cultcha, insecurity, non-fiction, obsessions, poetry, reading, writing, zen practice

Yesterday I picked up a new book from Molly, my favorite local librarian. Every time I stumble across something that appeals, I go my account on the Phoenicia Library page and order it up. Then Molly calls me when it’s…

Thanks, Elizabeth Wurtzel, (and the Kind Delusion-Dispellers at New York Magazine) for Clarifying a Few Things for This Aspiring Writer

Thanks, Elizabeth Wurtzel, (and the Kind Delusion-Dispellers at New York Magazine) for Clarifying a Few Things for This Aspiring Writer

January 12, 2013 · by Bethany · in beauty, cultcha, feminism, non-fiction, writing

This is fun. I get to join the ranks of the “infuriated bloggers,” according to the New York Post, as well as all the head-scratching dissectors in venues like Jezebel and many other smart writers such as Alyssa Rosenberg who…

I Never Knew I Cared: A Reverie on Ding-Dongs and Thanksgiving

I Never Knew I Cared: A Reverie on Ding-Dongs and Thanksgiving

November 16, 2012 · by Bethany · in cultcha, family, food

Amidst the news of more war between Palestine and Israel, another power-dude sex scandal, and an impending fiscal cliff, this morning, on the treadmill, luxuriating in my TV fix, I heard that Hostess is going out of business. Now, as…

More on Witches

More on Witches

November 15, 2012 · by Bethany · in cultcha, fear, feminism, obsessions, religion, uncategorized, writing, zen practice

My new friend Trina and I have been having a spirited debate about feminism and feelings and rape and what it means to be on a witch hunt. I am so grateful that she has taken the time to explain…

How Feminism Failed Me (and I, Apparently, Failed It)

How Feminism Failed Me (and I, Apparently, Failed It)

November 13, 2012 · by Bethany · in bodies, cultcha, fear, feminism, obsessions, writing, zen practice

The backstory here is my November Chronogram column, something that I have been wanting to write for a long time:   Flowers Fall: Non-Duality for President by Bethany Saltman, October 31, 2012 The policy [that legislated verbal consent at every…

My Piece from the Weeklings

My Piece from the Weeklings

November 1, 2012 · by Bethany · in art, beauty, cultcha, insecurity, non-fiction, obsessions

I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and now it’s up on The Weeklings. A few days after Frankenstorm, my house (and lower Manhattan) still dark, a few days before a Presidential election. My how things change. Oh well! The…

Breathless. Back from the Rabbit Hole

Breathless. Back from the Rabbit Hole

October 3, 2012 · by Bethany · in art, beauty, cultcha, insecurity, obsessions

Dang. I almost didn’t make it out. I have things to do—Deadlines, dinner, grading, art practice, big plans to make. So what a dumb time to follow a link I found in Jezebel about Victorian portraits, and the cute trend…

What’s That Burning Flesh Smell? Oh, Right. I’ve Been Branded: Part Two

What’s That Burning Flesh Smell? Oh, Right. I’ve Been Branded: Part Two

September 7, 2012 · by Bethany · in beauty, cultcha, love, obsessions, uncategorized, zen practice

So the voice, which I am coming to think of more and more, as God, said: “Get a Volvo.” I listened. I have a Volvo, a 2004 Cross Country Wagon with 100,000 miles on it. It cost $8,000, and once…

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ABOUT ME
My name is Bethany Saltman. I am 50 years old.

From as far back as I can remember, I have been searching for my place in the world. When my husband worked in a nursing home, there was an old lady there who used to repeat, "Is this my chair? Is this my chair?" I can relate to that lady.

My website is bethanysaltman.com, and my email is bethanysaltman@gmail.com.

ABOUT THIS SITUATION
I started this blog because I was so deeply fatigued by waiting for word on Non-Fiction Book Proposal #3 that, for the first time in my life, I needed something to do.

And because I was so over the hope that if I did this, or that, or the other thing just right, and schmoozed the perfect contact, crafted the most riveting pitch, delivered the juiciest proposal, then, then.....

I finally decided to just write what I want to write.

So that's the situation.

Eatables

  • 101 Cookbooks
  • Peekamoose

Go-tos

  • Zen Center of New York City/Fire Lotus Temple
  • Zen Mountain Monastery

Readables

  • A Public Space
  • Arts and Letters Daily
  • Brain Pickings
  • Corinne Purtill
  • http://www.spoonwiz.com/
  • Maud Newton
  • McSweeney's
  • My column. Flowers Fall: Field Notes from a Buddhist Mom's Experimental Life
  • n + 1
  • Rachel Zucker

Relate-ables

  • Annie Dwyer Internicola
  • Corinne Purtill
  • Heather King
  • Leanne Shapton
  • Lisa Catherine Harper
  • Rachel Zucker

Things That Intrigue Me

  • Who Were They?

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