tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7191412447324702102024-03-10T04:44:11.647-04:00Confessions of A Hermit CrabExploring the secrets of home & lifeJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-7632806416661576292022-05-04T16:27:00.000-04:002022-05-04T16:27:04.873-04:00Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-18686199049617714492020-06-29T14:18:00.001-04:002020-10-28T10:52:49.784-04:00#WritersAgainstRacialInjustice raise $63k for the outstanding Equal Justice Initiative
At the beginning of June, novelist Lise Haines got in touch with me to see what we could do in the time of COVID-19 to protest against egregious acts of police brutality/murder of unarmed black men and women and systemic racism--so deeply scored into our national psyche. We decided to conduct a fundraiser to support the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), founded by Bryan Stevenson (Just Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-56633716201280684872019-12-27T13:52:00.000-05:002019-12-27T13:52:33.433-05:00Tree. Rock. Sky. One. Love.Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-43598653058865109972019-12-09T14:32:00.003-05:002019-12-09T14:32:51.115-05:00Shelf Awareness Spotlights #authorsagainstborderabuse
On November 8, 2019, the inimitable Robert Gray of Shelf Awareness spotlighted #AuthorsAgainstBorderAbuse - Read his column re-posted here. There's still time this giving season to raise more. Thank you!
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3617#m46476
Deeper Understanding
Robert Gray: 'You Can Add to the Conversation & Hope It Helps'
On a Sunday afternoon near the Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-39063040362671510722019-10-01T07:21:00.002-04:002019-11-08T14:48:11.348-05:00November Update: #AuthorsAgainstBorderAbuse raises $18,00011.8.19 - $18,000 raised! RECHARGING for the HOLIDAYS! GIFT AN AUTHOR to your BOOKCLUB - Choose from our list of authors (below) who signed on for consultations and book club visits. All donations help organizations working against border abuses. All donations go directly to ACLU, RAICES, IRC, and TEAM BROWNSVILLE. Let's get it to $20K for the holidays. HOST an AUTHOR for your Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-62187662896919039772019-07-03T16:13:00.002-04:002020-01-22T15:14:56.725-05:00IN THE BOSTON GLOBE on July 4, 2019 #AuthorsAgainstBorderAbuse + updates
Graphic created by Jenna Blum
THANKS to the Boston Globe article and your incredible response and efforts #authorsagainstborderabuse is 150 strong. See list below for authors donating consultation or Book Club virtual visit times in exchange for clients' donations to organizations fighting kids in cages and border abuse. (ACLU, RAICES, International Rescue CommitteeJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-20029651878943578162017-10-14T07:32:00.002-04:002017-10-20T06:45:48.334-04:00Author Joy
Not sure words are needed here. My hardcovers arrived this week and I am over the moon with the beautiful magical object that I can hold in my hands. I am proud to be an Algonquin Books author.Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-61769965085092893482017-09-04T09:10:00.001-04:002017-09-04T12:51:49.611-04:00Strangers In Budapest - Boston Mag Fall Arts PreviewGot a wonderful write-up in Boston Magazine's Fall Arts Preview section (September issue). Here it is:
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-89050045672244037702017-04-07T16:46:00.001-04:002019-07-07T08:51:37.562-04:00How To Deal With the World?
Budapest circa 1995
I'm returning to basics--taking walks around the neighborhood with a friend, taking pictures with my cell phone, taking time to tell myself that the reason I started writing back when I was eight years old was to understand the world and to use the beauty of language to ask important questions and seek answers, and also to observe. My father always reminded me that it Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-23882910834292461992017-04-01T08:53:00.000-04:002017-04-01T08:55:51.097-04:00Hello, to my coverJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-77512700843237021602017-03-14T10:46:00.000-04:002017-04-01T08:51:17.901-04:00Strangers In Budapest, my new novel, launches Nov.14, 2017Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-75233349770110068182017-02-12T09:54:00.003-05:002017-02-12T09:54:54.721-05:00Beauty persistsA reminder to turn your attention to beauty. It will help you.
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-46395870419246169342017-02-12T09:52:00.001-05:002017-02-12T09:52:46.184-05:00Snow Moon 2017Hello, snow moon (from my kitchen window) here.
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-48214585550391701642016-12-17T08:36:00.003-05:002016-12-17T08:40:30.248-05:00Remembering My father died six years ago this month. (December 13, 2010). He was a complicated man and often difficult, but he was also one of my biggest and most consistent cheerleaders when it came to my pursuit of writing. For all his ability to be critical about many things in life, he never suggested or implied or hinted that I should stop writing. I started writing poetry when I was a teenager Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-65012903708491953942016-12-04T16:33:00.001-05:002016-12-04T16:33:35.096-05:00Embers In the SkyJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-80779612118708053252016-12-03T17:21:00.000-05:002016-12-04T16:38:42.323-05:00Ancestral WisdomI spent the day organizing files and, in the process, found an achingly honest letter written by my dad to his kids, which he wrote in 1982. (He died in 2010.) I've pulled out some of what he wrote here. May the wisdom of his words resonate for you as they do for me:
"My upbringing was centered around money and the pursuit of it...Whatever successes came my way as a result were joyless, Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-64330722984923632292016-12-03T09:44:00.002-05:002016-12-03T09:44:33.007-05:00Searching for SomethingJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-70141793634512260552016-12-01T21:02:00.000-05:002016-12-01T21:02:01.756-05:00Morning commuteJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-60525120997746598112016-12-01T20:58:00.000-05:002016-12-01T20:58:22.513-05:00Time Traveling
91 and 23. Grandma and grandson. Love.
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-14038364883188265872016-11-24T12:29:00.004-05:002016-11-24T21:59:50.323-05:00Rebirth
It's been 37 years since my bone marrow transplant and this Polaroid picture of me was taken by my dad a few weeks out of the hospital. That look on my face expresses my feeling that I had touched a spark of eternity. Every year I think I won't post anything about this second birthday. I think it will be old news, but it never is. Each year, it's a chance to thank my younger brother, who gave Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-85021189890935930872016-10-31T18:41:00.000-04:002016-12-03T09:45:29.524-05:00Mid-flight Thrill
You never know what the day will bring. Over the past few days, we've had a burgeoning flock of black birds filling up our trees in our back and front yards. (Our urban yard is tiny.) Yesterday morning, for instance, I woke to the sound of their squees and garbles and loud chatter. These visitation have been happening about twice a day. So, this early afternoon, when they showed up Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-37209440510730835572016-09-25T13:07:00.001-04:002016-09-25T13:26:11.724-04:00Strangers In Budapest, a novel
Heading into Production! It's done. Nine years. Countless revisions. Novel-shocked! Coming fall 2017, Algonquin Books
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-72201783596858465872016-01-04T12:57:00.000-05:002016-01-04T12:57:16.332-05:00New Year 2016 - 8 wishes for you
My favorite part about this box of oranges, lemons, and grapefruits handpicked from my cousin's garden in Arizona--aside from the kindness of the gift--are the leaves and twigs still clinging to the fruit. Here are eight wishes that I hope will cling to you all year:
1) Take care of yourself
2) Give yourself time to grow
3) Seek simplicity
4) Reach for goodness
5) Contribute to a causeJessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-71571574014412219362015-11-21T09:53:00.001-05:002015-11-21T10:03:14.159-05:00Falling into FallMid-November and the leaves have floated off from their moorings, swept up again into the sky's ocean by unseasonably mild winds, then settling curbside in elongated piles, anchored by the rains. Here are some of my favorite views of the season.
Fall is a long sunset of colors
Leaf tide
A haunting sky on Halloween Eve
Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719141244732470210.post-7395441992606906962015-04-19T12:54:00.000-04:002015-04-19T13:23:07.762-04:00#Boston Marathon, Multiple Sclerosis, My husband, Our friendThis year, my husband Barlow joined Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Marathon team to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He was inspired to do so because of our dear friend, Susan, who has been living with a progressive form of MS for 25 yrs. The money Barlow raises will go toward MS research at BWH.
Susan went to law school with Barlow and is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke. When I first met Jessica Brilliant Keenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05292649334006427891noreply@blogger.com1