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Writing
About “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf: “The central point of ‘A Room of One’s Own’ is that every woman needs a room of her own … A room of her own would provide a woman with the time and the space to engage in uninterrupted writing time.” (Source: Sparknotes.com)
Here is a selection of memoir vignettes and other pieces I’ve written in my room.
“The Way It Was”
If Dad told me that the sun rose in the West, I would have found a way to believe him. (“What an imagination!”) If Mom told me that the...
Susan Black
Jul 6, 20241 min read
“School Bus”
First-grade me is standing next to the bus driver on the school bus. I’m holding onto a pole. We are at my stop, and some kids get...
Susan Black
Jul 5, 20241 min read
“Poem”
What are you supposed to to when your Assigned Assumed Acknowledged responsibility All these years Happily or not Has been to put 3 meals...

Susan Black
Jun 21, 20241 min read
“Look out the window and describe what you see”
Writing class “flash” prompt; 10 minutes. The stubbly grass dusted with overnight snow Powdered sugar on a crumb coffee cake The sun...
Susan Black
Jun 14, 20241 min read
“Poem”
I know it’s not the same That a dog is not a person But when my dog (Elderly, diabetic, so diminished) Unable once again to rise up from...
Susan Black
Jun 4, 20241 min read
“Goldenrod”
There was a large statue of Mary, the Blessed Mother, in the main hallway, and smaller statues of Mary in all the classrooms. It was the...
Susan Black
Jun 2, 20241 min read
“I Love the Alphabet”
A truncated version of this, titled “The”, appeared on VineLeavesPress.com (“50 Words Give or Take”). As a little child, I felt what I...
Susan Black
May 22, 20241 min read
“Birthstones. Deathstones”
Writing class assignment for the prompt “gift”. Many husbands like to buy gifts of jewelry for their wives. Nothing remarkable about...
Susan Black
May 17, 20242 min read
“Freckle”
Published on VineLeavesPress.com (“50 Words Give or Take”) . I’m four years old. Dad is scrubbing my face with a washcloth. He keeps...

Susan Black
May 8, 20241 min read
“What Inspires me? Who Inspires Me?
Everything inspires me. Everyone inspires me. Everything and everyone come from God. Therefore, God inspires me. It’s inspiring to know...
Susan Black
May 7, 20243 min read
“Flat Tire”
Writing class exercise, 10 minutes, no revisions, to the prompt “flat tire”. Any nail or screw in any road will find its way into any one...
Susan Black
Apr 30, 20241 min read
“Sorrow and Joy”
This piec e appeared on March 11, 2024 on CatholicArtistConnection.com , as part of that website’s Lenten Reflections series. Mid-way...
Susan Black
Apr 24, 20242 min read
“The Young Artist”
The apartment in Bayside. Perhaps I am three or four. I am sitting, crouching, squatting, whatever posture I need to be in, on the...
Susan Black
Apr 23, 20241 min read
“Children of War: Reflection ~ Prayer ~ Awareness ~ Response”
This retreat, co-led with Mary Blankenship, will be held again during Lent 2025 (exact date TBD). An interactive experience of...
Susan Black
Apr 22, 20241 min read
“Cold War kids were hard to kill, under their desks in an air-raid drill” — from the song “Leningrad” by Billy Joel
I don’t remember why we were told we had to do this. In 1958 or 1959, in first grade in Queens, we all went in an orderly line to the...
Susan Black
Apr 22, 20241 min read
“My Oldest Friend”
I have known my oldest friend since both she and I were born — since even before that, because who knows what kind of consciousness...
Susan Black
Mar 26, 20242 min read
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