Fiction vs non and protecting people and privacy while writing. My mother in law used this expression a while back and I found it immediately
when practicality looks like magic: 222
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" -Arthur C. Clarke Years ago I was contracted to coordinate and improve the
A Visual Peace: Art as Alchemy
Creative work is alchemy. It is an honest process, that sometimes culminates something that can touch the honest places in other people too. Art,
Long a$$ rambling tax ‘tip’
Hi Friends, The 2025 tax code allows filers to write off up to 25K in tips as long as their adjusted gross income isn’t above $150,000 ($300,000 if
Why try bird’s eye?
On the art & science of mapping, and our physical positioning in relationship to the places we depict. Maps may have come about, in part, to
practice makes a practice
Doing things and making things makes me feel alive. So to practice feeling alive, I need to be in motion, or at least making something for the sake of
Living Legacy™ and loving turns of phrase
I love turns of phrase, especially those that are, by their nature, contradictory. Living Legacy is one like this. Legacy, by definition, has to do
Audience
A term of endearment post. If you can feel positioning and motion inherent in words, then you may also experience how your point of view can flip
Most Recent Visual Art
I make visual art on Instagram when prose just can't hold the message.
fun with official photos
This is the first post of a series called What Did You Learn And How?1 (WDYLAH) This series is inspired by Oprah Winfrey's frequent call out to a
Perspicacious: a term of endearment
I heard this word for perhaps the first time in a podcast, and fell in love. The word delighted me because it condensed into one word what I'd
Wonder
[originally published as newsletter on 11/24/2025] I've come to know that we can experience beauty and wonder in everyday life by tapping childhood
Generational Curse Breaking for an Everyday Lady
Disclaimer: in order to do this, you don't actually have to be a lady. I am case in point. I'm also not recommending you believe in curses per se,
Ai Ai (for now)
[Update 12/21/20255] I've stopped using AI as an administrative tool, because, it is has been more trouble than it has provided innovative solutions,
Life is a feeling
One of my teachers1 said the title of this post with great authority, and it gave me pause. How could life be a feeling, I wondered, isn't life a
What do you call utopia?
With Sunday Morning Hope by David Byrne and Patti Smith I don't care for the word utopia. I feel it's been so overused for so long that my
Regress, or Congress?
In 2016, I wrote letters to a number of GOP Senators asking them to hold the line against the destructive tendencies of Trump. It seemed clear that
Stone Soup
Email Newsletter published 11/4/2025 is here.
One-Third School, Two-Thirds Sky
I've had so many things on my mind lately, and much of it related to the sky: blues, clouds, galaxies, light and dark matter, and accelerating
In (and out of) Service
[Originally published as newsletter on 11/11/2025]My Dad is a Veteran. He served our country in a regimented way to protect democracy. Practically, he
What I know about marketing
Good marketing is not a getting activity. It's a giving one. To do marketing well, you must give first. And give often to new people. And I
Road Songs, Libraries, and Hard Work Hassles
After dropping my 15 year old at drivers ed, I drove around listening to classic rock and landed at the library. Before I forget, Bob Seeger is an
Here’s my story (and I’m not sticking to it)
I've been in between things for some time now. Like in my career. And it is glorious. I mean, literally glorious. Each day feels like an adventure, my
Time Travel
[ Originally posted as Newsletter on 10/21/2015 ] Good morning, I'm at the airport with 20 minutes to get this out to you. I love flying
Polarity: a mechanism of expansion
My father, a man of few words to me, once said our culture was bipolar. His colleague provided a wide-eyed surprised look and consenting chuckle. I
What changes when you have kids
So yeah, this avant-blog has the word "mom" in it, which probably makes you think that somehow it's going to be all beautiful beige housekeeping tips,
Annnd today, there’s peace-ish in the Middle East
[originally published in newsletter on 10/14/2025] My friend is dying and everyone except a rogue lung doctor is doing their job. Well, actually
Anchors Away
There was a time when women undergoing spiritual transformation could take a vow of stability of place, and hole up – practically – in a cell in a
What’s your story? Mythic or Mundane?
[originally published as newsletter on 9/30/2025]There's a good deal of talk in self-development circles about the stories we tell ourselves. That we
recent visual work
Birth of VenusMarkup on photo AVMarkup on photo Visual Works © September 2025 Elizabeth Mullen Matteson | Contact for licensing.
Admitting Conflation
See, I'm on a self-study immersion in the English language and American culture so as to become a better writer. And my course is pretty sloppy and
Mapping: meeting what you need on the checkerboard of life – with art project
On the checkerboard of life, the right thing is finding its way to you, as you are to it.~ My Mom Artwork: No Title by the author 2024 I love
When a mound of sand sends you to the stratosphere
Originally published as newsletter 09/24/2025 This photo above is of sand mound about 10 inches wide, and reminds me of hurricane clouds. In
Culling, destruction, and birth by menopause
I am experiencing menopause. And also a deep gleaning of my business ventures, clients, relationships, subscriptions, and some obligations too.
Over-Unders for the Sandwich Generation
IE the gamble of choosing material renunciation as a middle-class, middle-generation American. Sitting here squarely in a middle class "sandwich
pushy, derivative, thieving, lying, child AI.
Ok, first: forgive this title. Yes, it's here to grab your attention, but has less vitriol behind it than perhaps it sounds. Truth is, whether I like
Matchy matchy branding is going, going …
I only have a few minutes to write this. Remember when the sign that a business was "official" was that all their social channels, their website,
Mother of
I was out late last night at a concert with my teenager. Total bonding experience, and great to see how even punk and goth music can still send a
If it’s brown…
There's a bell in the bathroom at my mom's house. Like one of those "ring for service," bells that dings when you slap it. Because there's more than a
