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Crescent Dragonwagon

TIDINGS OF DISCOMFORT

TIDINGS OF DISCOMFORT

By Crescent Dragonwagon

Our beloved partner is no longer on earth. And now it’s the holidays. Sometimes other people, not realizing they’re doing it, ask us to dress grief up in party clothes. We may even ask it of ourselves. But we don’t have to do it. In the fall of 2004,  Richard, my friend Kay’s husband and the love of her life,… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living, widowhood Tagged With: grief, grieving, holiday depression, holiday grieving, holiday pressure, holidays, widow, widowhood

A “SUICIDE-WIDOW” CONSIDERS THE UNTHINKABLE, ON A STRIPED COUCH

A “SUICIDE-WIDOW” CONSIDERS THE UNTHINKABLE, ON A STRIPED COUCH

By Crescent Dragonwagon

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. It is also the birthday month of the late David Koff, with whom I lived for almost a decade, and who ended his own life. I wrote this exploration of the collateral damage of suicide, six years ago, three years after David’s death. In 2014, I had a new cat come to live with… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living Tagged With: cat, guilt, suicide, suicide widow, widow, widowhood, Widowhood Wednesday

THE HOLIDAYS, AFTER A SUDDEN DEATH: HOW TO HELP

THE HOLIDAYS, AFTER A SUDDEN DEATH: HOW TO HELP

By Crescent Dragonwagon

HE DIED. SUDDENLY. AN ACCIDENT. THREE WEEKS LATER, THE WORST WINTER WEATHER IN THE STATE’S HISTORY BLEW IN. SOMETIMES DISASTERS COLLIDE SOMETIMES FRIENDS HOLD A PLACE FOR US WHEN WE CAN’T DO IT FOR OURSELVES. It is easy, looking back on the aftermath of the catastrophic theft of normalcy that is widowhood, to recall the hurtful, bone-headed remarks and deeds… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living Tagged With: accidental death, friends, grief, Mr. Rogers, sudden death, widow, widowhood

TRAVELING ON THANKSGIVING: NOTES ON A TRANSITIONAL TIME

TRAVELING ON THANKSGIVING: NOTES ON A TRANSITIONAL TIME

By Crescent Dragonwagon

WE CAN NO LONGER HAVE WHAT WE HAD. SOMETIMES THE BEST WAY TO REORIENT IS TO QUIT RESISTING DISORIENTATION. MAYBE EVEN EMBRACE IT. FOR NOW. Thanksgiving, it turns out, is a great day on which to travel. The Thanksgiving after I was widowed for the second time, I spent much of Thanksgiving literally in the air. And that — strangely,… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living Tagged With: holiday depression, holiday grieving, new normal, widow, widowhood, Widowhood Wednesday

GRIEF’S LOVE-LANGUAGE

GRIEF’S LOVE-LANGUAGE

By Crescent Dragonwagon

That last Thursday in November, I had been at Miller Williams‘ sixth or eighth Survey of Western Poetry class, which I was auditing at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.I’d drive over each Thursday — it was about an hour from Eureka Springs — immerse myself in Miller’s world, do any Fayetteville errands that I might have, and drive home…. Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living Tagged With: death, Emily Dickinson, grief, Miller Williams, Ned Shank, poetry, poetry and grief, The Bustle in a House, widow

A WIDOW IS A REMINDER: IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME

A WIDOW IS A REMINDER: IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME

By Crescent Dragonwagon

“What’s on your mind this morning?” Facebook asked me cheerily last week. As it does daily, to any user who opens it before noon. That morning happened to be September 10th, 2017. What was on my mind? Quite a bit. It was the day before the 16th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. It was the day before Hurricane Irma was… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living, self-understanding, personal growth Tagged With: 9-11, death, Ned Shank, widow, widowhood, Widowhood Wednesday

WHEN GRIEF WANTS TO BE FELT, IT WILL. BUT IT WON’T ALWAYS WANT TO.

WHEN GRIEF WANTS TO BE FELT, IT WILL. BUT IT WON’T ALWAYS WANT TO.

By Crescent Dragonwagon

You expect things like anniversaries. Like birthdays. Like Father’s Day (if he was the father of your children). Mother’s Day (if she was the mother of your children). Like “We would have been married 31 years today.” Like, looking at your watch and seeing the exact dark beat of time, when according to the death certificate, he or she crossed… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Living Tagged With: grief, how long does it take, solar eclipse 2017, widow, widowhood, Widowhood Wednesday

Read Aloud with Crescent and Mark

NOT A LITTLE MONKEY, by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrted by Michelle Chessaree

"So, the little girl climbed into the big waste-basket and waited." ' Oh no,' said her mother, ' we don't want to throw you away.'"There are many ways to express love and the need for attention. Here, a busy mother and her just-a-bit naughty little girl tease each other affectionately — the little girl making her point without even uttering a word.That's today's story time — read aloud by the author's daughter at Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops, with Mark Graff's "text support" and discussion."Just right for two-to-fours, the humor of this true-to-life story of a mischievous little girl who blocks her mother's attempts to clean house will elicit giggles from the lollipop set." Kirkus Reviews

Posted by Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Read Aloud with Crescent

Read Aloud with Crescent

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

Greek Lentil Soup with Spinach and Lemon, photograph by Tom McCorkle, Washington Post

Bean By Bean Cookbooks

#DeepFeast Recipes

More Posts from this Category

Dinner with Dragonwagon

More Posts from this Category

 for children:

A NAPPA Gold Winner
NAPPA


"... like a warm luminescent blanket at bedtime... softly lulling." -- New York Times


"(With) weary animals, Dragonwagon offers an “alphabet of ways to sleep,” smoothly working in some alliteration..."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)


Available at:

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read aloud with Crescent Dragonwagon

Until Just Moistened

Until Just Moistened

Available for Purchase

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