Entries by Bethany

Encouragement

So I have been thinking about mentors, and then today my friend Carolynne gave me a piece of writing about courage. I think what the ideal mentor does is to give us courage. In Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor is a friend of Odysseus, an older, trusted adviser. The goddess Athena later takes the form of Mentor in order […]

Who’s your mentor?

I intended to drop by for a long post about mentors, as it must seem a little clumsy of me to include mothers and wives in that category (but why not?). Unfortunately, I am preparing to leave for Chehalis — another round of doctor visits for my mom tomorrow — and am pressed for time. I need […]

“Then I’ll do it myself,” said the little red hen.

I had a very interesting conversation last night about mentors, submissions, and punctuation. My friend, in a moment that sounded a lot like despair, wanted to know where her mentor was. “I can’t do this myself,” she said. I know of a few amazing mentor stories. A woman whose teacher sent her poetry manuscript to […]

Some thoughts about the work…

This is how I remember work on the farm — a picture of my dad (beside the wagon) and either a brother or cousin on top. We cut the hay, raked it (see my poem, “The Hayrake”), shocked the hay into big stacks, loaded it on the wagon, and used a huge fork on a pulley to […]