Comments for Morgan Baden lives here.

Comment on Setting into a coast; a life by admin

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:34:42 +0000

I am the worst and just saw these comments!

Jen, I love this so much: “I think about them, and about cultivating form, whenever I worry about giving up too much.”

Thanks, both.

Comment on Setting into a coast; a life by Jen

Jen — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:22:55 +0000

The mysteries of people’s inner lives: I never thought of you as being unsettled in New York. Not once.

I used to struggle with the thought of choosing one path over another. As you say, committing to one life means abandoning other possibilities for at least semi-permanent good. I pictured it as a series of amputations, tragic, painful. Now I think of it differently. When I worked at the museum I sometimes visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on my lunch breaks. One day I walked through the bonsai conservatory and thought about pruning. About careful training. Bonsai never look hacked apart. They look graceful. There’s an integrity to them, focus and wholeness (forgive me for personifying). I think about them, and about cultivating form, whenever I worry about giving up too much. I want to buy one some day, when I have the right window and room for one, the right kind of light.

Comment on Setting into a coast; a life by Melissa Sarno

Melissa Sarno — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:49:22 +0000

I love this, Morgan. I, too, wonder about the lives not led and the choices that keep us where we are. I always thought I’d work as a writer for television and I remember, after graduating from college, sitting on a train from NYC to Long Island and striking up a conversation with someone who told me I could never be a television writer unless I moved to L.A. That has always stayed with me. But maybe it doesn’t make any sense at all to believe that being in a certain place allows you to be who you wish to be.

Comment on Warming up to Spring by Jillyb28

Jillyb28 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:28:41 +0000

Congrats! Can’t wait to read!

Comment on A collection of things my niece said this weekend by Jillyb28

Jillyb28 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:26:47 +0000

Your niece loves you!

Comment on Warming up to Spring by Melissa Sarno

Melissa Sarno — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:01:31 +0000

I posted an eerily similar picture on my blog yesterday. And I love this post. Especially the memory of black-olived fingers. Congratulations on finishing the novel and best of luck with the work ahead this spring : )

Comment on Stage fright by Jen

Jen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:52:13 +0000

You know, a few people have been urging me in that direction lately. (I recently picked up 10 hrs/wk of tutoring.) The problem is, I’ve never actually been interested in classroom teaching. I think it would always leave me wanting something more, or really, something different. I dunno.

Comment on Stage fright by admin

admin — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:18:18 +0000

I could see you being a STEM teacher, Jen!

Comment on Stage fright by Jen

Jen — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:39:09 +0000

PS: At least I don’t feel like an outsider in math. That’s something.

Comment on Stage fright by Jen

Jen — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:37:59 +0000

I am not in the middle of Lean In yet–there’s a 38-person waiting list at the library–but as for the question of what I would do if I weren’t afraid, the answer is a horrifyingly serious one: I would study more computer science and math. I’ve gotten A’s in every single CS course I’ve ever taken, but I still feel like an outsider. It’s something I am not proud of.