About

Hello, I’m Nora. I’m studying for a master’s in creative writing but I’ve had this blog for years and I just can’t give it up.

HOMEWARD BOUND is littered with thoughts, poems, song lyrics, and the occasional sharing of pictures and songs/videos I like. It’s pretty much just a public electronic journal. It’s always nice to see your comments turn my thoughts into conversations.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy.

Interests: Living out the great commandments (to love God with all my heart and all my soul and to love my neighbor as myself).

Mastering the arts of: teaching composition, speaking and reading and maybe writing Thai, writing short stories (in English), and playing the guitar.

Activities: Writing: stories, songs, poems, and essays. Drinking: hot tea and an occasional shot of tequila–not together. Eating: the world’s best mangoes (which, I found out, are in India) the world’s best pineapple (in Thailand), the world’s best fruit (mangosteen… also in Thailand) and lots of grapao moo–that’s ground pork, chili, and basil. It sounds gross but trust me, it’s good. Visiting: friends, family, and friends of my friends and family who like to practice hospitality from various corners of the world. Paying attention to: Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, and Rob Bell. Planning: the next adventure.

I read works by these folks: Flannery O’Connor, Julie Orringer, John Steinbeck, David Mamet , CS Lewis, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Madeleine L’Engle, Jefferey Eugenides, David Sedaris, Franz Wright, Euripides, William Shakespeare, Richard Wright, Beth Henley, Anne Lamott, WH Auden, Sarah Vowell, James Baldwin, and Tennessee Williams.

I’ve seen these movies at least twice: Psycho, Singin’ in the Rain, Bullets Over Broadway, Annie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Everyone Says I Love You, The Neverending Story, Little Shop of Horrors, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, O’ Brother Where Art Thou, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fargo, Good Will Hunting, and a whole lot of movies that were nominated for best picture at the Oscar Awards but lost to lesser films.

I listen to this music: Elmore James, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Waits, Dan Kahn (and the Painted Bird), Annie Palmer, Memphis Minnie, Louis Armstrong, Mel Torme, Eric Bibb, The Who, James Brown, Wilco, Stevie Wonder, Calexico, Over the Rhine, Rufus Wainwright, Radiohead, Woody Guthrie, Lauryn Hill, The White Stripes, Blanche, Nick Cave, Kanye West, Lucinda Williams, Kim Taylor, U2, Sara Groves, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, The Beatles, and John Legend.

Allergic to: bananas, kiwi, penicillin, and closed minds.

The waterfall picture across the top was taken by my (genius photographer) friend, P’George in Thailand