Monday, November 19, 2012

In Remembrance


Beckie Dixon, Columbus, Ohio, November 2005 © Marissa Roth

Beckie Dixon, whose son Christopher was the youngest Marine killed in Iraq in August 2005. He had just turned 18 a few months earlier. Photographed on Veteran's Day, with his memorial flag, in Columbus, Ohio.

Monday, November 5, 2012

San Juan Island Sojourn

View looking east from my window, November 2, 2012 © Marissa Roth

The San Juan Islands in Washington State have long held a special place in my heart. I went to Orcas Island three decades ago with my beloved friend Nancy Clise, where she introduced me to trolling for salmon, digging for clams, beholding nature and just being still... in between, of course, raucous bouts of laughter, very loud rock n' roll and driving too fast!

As I round the corner of my major life transition ~ moving from Los Angeles to Vancouver, BC ~ I decided to take a breather on the way, and spend a month in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, a neighbor of Orcas. With the recent completion of "One Person Crying: Women and War" I realized that I am pretty emotionally spent and felt I needed a time-out to recharge, reflect and just exhale, and the San Juan's, across the water from Vancouver, seemed like the natural place to be still. I'll be here most of November, and am already starting to shed my city speed, taking time to watch the gentle light envelope the rhythms of island life.