Audrey Kalman's Blog

I'm saying farewell to this blog after 12 years, but you can keep up with me on Substack with my newsletter Read/Write.

How I visualize Dread If you have followed this blog for a while, you know I’ve written a lot about mortality, finding purpose in life, and the intersection of those with art. I also find engaging in written dialogue to be a fruitful way to explore difficult topics. I’m back to share an interesting challenge... Continue Reading →

I can count in one breath the number of new musicians I've come to include in my listening repertoire since the late 1990s. According to research, I'm not alone in losing my penchant for new-music discovery at around that age. Recently I went on a quest to rediscover the joy of music.

One of my most popular posts, to my surprise, was about my struggles with anxiety, in which I lowered my guard, just a little, around my private persona. This post is in that vein. So, if you’re here for reading or writing insights, you can skip this one. But if you’re interested in mental and... Continue Reading →

My mother died in 2007. For more than 10 years after her death, I was unable to make it through Mother’s Day without getting angry. “F*** you!” I yelled at my computer when emails showed up offering Mother’s Day specials for brunches I would never get to eat with her. “I can’t ‘make her day... Continue Reading →

Writers crafting a world for readers to inhabit need good answers for the many questions that might arise in the audience's mind as they read. “

I've usually sworn to stay away from the tyranny of the new year's resolution. This time I've been doing a lot of looking back and looking ahead over. Here's a reflection on how that turned out.

This month, I've been ruminating on patience (my own, or lack thereof, and others').

I've continued my practice of putting one foot in front of the other, out in nature, since I returned from backpacking in the Grand Canyon. Every Thursday, I hike with a local group I found through MeetUp. But hiking is not the only thing I've been working on this summer.

I traffic in words, and yet words sometimes seem wholly inadequate to convey an experience.Yet I owe it to myself to try.I recently returned from my third journey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I made the trek in 2008 and again in 2012. This time was different.This time, no mules carried my supplies. Instead, I carried a backpack containing 28 pounds of everything I would need for four days and three nights.This time, no Phantom Ranch cabin awaited at the bottom.This time, I journeyed into a more remote part of the Canyon.This time, I had a guide.