Is This My Chair?

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…

A Dispatch from Post-Sandy Manhattan, by Evie, my First Guest-Blogger

A Dispatch from Post-Sandy Manhattan, by Evie, my First Guest-Blogger

November 5, 2012 · by Bethany · in family, fear, non-fiction, uncategorized

My good friend, and on the weekends neighbor sent me this last week and I asked her if I could reprint it here, which would make her my very first guest-blogger. Welcome to my world, Evie! So this is a…

Some Thoughts on Being Quiet and Powerless

Some Thoughts on Being Quiet and Powerless

November 1, 2012 · by Bethany · in family, food, non-fiction, obsessions, zen practice

If I weren’t sitting at the funny conference table at the Emerson (the resort which happens to house a gym of which I am a member) gearing up for a shower, catching up on my work here, in other words,…

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…

Oh, Sandy

Oh, Sandy

October 29, 2012 · by Bethany · in insecurity, non-fiction

Sitting here at Steve and Jessie’s kitchen table, trying to get my work done before the lights go out. The kids playing. Jessie ironing. Turkey sandwiches waiting in the wings. Watching the Pakatakan Mountain wait, too. A little rain. Some…

The World’s Most Famous Bored Lady

The World’s Most Famous Bored Lady

October 23, 2012 · by Bethany · in art, love, obsessions, reading

Yesterday, Sunday, T spent all morning at the monastery, where he runs the Zen Teens program with another senior student (and friend of ours). Azalea slept until 10 (!) and then played with a friend. I figured, hey, if they…

Man, this Sucks. Oh, Well. (And Other Thoughts About Letting Go)

Man, this Sucks. Oh, Well. (And Other Thoughts About Letting Go)

October 17, 2012 · by Bethany · in insecurity, non-fiction, obsessions, religion, writing, zen practice

Heard back from another small press yesterday. A little part of me always falls when I don’t get what I dearly, dearly, dearly want (and we are not just talking about books here). And this is of course why I…

Anything Else?

Anything Else?

October 16, 2012 · by Bethany · in love, obsessions, zen practice

I have been reading the 200 page transcript that Tom L. from Australia posted online from the six years when he and Joko did dokusan, or face to face teaching, over the phone, something she did a lot. It is…

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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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