Hurra! Libraries are Open Again
One aspect of our on-going pandemic that has not gotten a lot of attention was the total closure of our public libraries. In mid-June San Francisco signaled that it would slowly begin reopening its Main Library and neighborhood branches after more than a year of closure. For me, this was the equivalent of seeing the […]
More On Music
Grant Lee Buffalo: I’m in Love with a Band that Broke up 20 Years Ago I want you to meet my new love interests: Grant Lee Buffalo. Too bad the band is from twenty years ago. What happened? How did I only now stumble on to the melancholy genius of these guys? No explanation. Thank […]
Why I Love New Orleans
I miss New Orleans. I was there last March and arrived back home in San Francisco just as the Shelter in Place (SIP) was about to be issued. It was surreal to go from a place full of people to a city emptied out overnight. Of course New Orleans soon had its own shutdown, but […]
Does the Tattoo Change the Woman?
I waited a long time to get a tattoo. I put it off for twenty years while I fretted that it would give people the wrong impression about me as I started my public relations firm. Then I was worried it would somehow damage my credibility when I became a mother. But I never lost […]
Playlists Are the Characters
Music has always been an important part of my life. I have memories of listening to Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan as a kid, and then as a teenager experimenting with everything from Japan to Aerosmith as I explored music and self-identity. As a writer, I’ve used playlists as a way to inspire myself and […]
When Life is Stranger than Fiction
I love this photo of the Skystar in Golden Gate Park. For me, it’s simultaneously romantic and creepy – the lights sparkling in the twilight of an emptied almost dystopian landscape thanks to the pandemic and San Francisco’s shelter in place order. It’s the kind of thing you would read about in THE STAND or […]
Witches
Witch: 1. A person, esp. A woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic, esp. Black magic; sorceress. 2. Slang. An ugly or malignant woman; hag. 3. A person who uses a divining rod. 4. To affect by or as by witchcraft; bewitch; charm. Witch is a complicated word. At its worst, throughout history […]
The Beauty of Failure
Karen Rinaldi, author, amateur surfer and publisher of Harper Wave, recently wrote a New York Times op-ed titled “(It’s Great to) Suck at Something” discussing the validity of failure.
En Marche! Olivia’s Take on Current Events
For those of you who’ve read WOMAN KING and DARK HORSE, Sunday’s presidential victory would have been cause for champagne toasts all around.
Libraries Deliver Democracy
Last month, I was honored to attend the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library Laureates Gala as a 2017 Library Laureate alongside many accomplished authors, poets and library advocates.