Lost Corner Letters

Some thoughts on life and living

The things our world cannot steal, the things that will last, are your integrity, your purpose and, for me, a richly woven inner tapestry that values a worn-down old place in Chatham County as highly as the biggest, finest American home.
Mitzi Viola, “At Home“

Essays, etc.

Flashback to Finch: A Baseline for Forward Movement

It’s time for a re-blog. This is the right time for the following piece, written several years ago. I suppose every time is the right time; it’s just especially appropriate now. –> Retiring Atticus
The road home

Many roads fill my conscious and unconscious space. Some are grand, others technical and congested. Still others are simple segments of that endless black ribbon of entrance and exit ramps punctuated by standard DOT overpasses that unites this land. None is more natural or grounding than a dusty dirt road weaving through tall pines toward…
Pause

Patiently he awaited the end of winter and the coming of the little spiders. Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch. – E.B. White This nugget came to me during the season of waiting some 25 years ago, the cover quote on an…
Never, should, always

Never. My descent into never began in the sterile confines of a neurology office. It was February 1995. The confident young expert was a recent transplant to our town from sunny Riverside, where he was chief of the department at a nearby hospital. He brimmed with eagerness and the suggestion that whatever ills lurked among…
Old dogs, new tricks

When I was a child, I picked flowers for my grandmother from her yard. Each spring when the buttercups arose from the Piedmont soil, I picked all the sunny blooms my kid hands could reach – enough to fill a 1960s-style green drinking glass. Predictably I presented them with an eager and lasting hug. If…
I. Give and take

{Part I in a series on re-envisioning philanthropy} ~~~ In my corner of the world, we have entered the season of giving. I built a career on the art and science of offering people the chance to give. Here are some of the buzzwords: opportunity, meaning, year-end and benefit. If you have spent any time…

some thoughts on writing a life…

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I am a nonprofit development officer and student of life. For me, writing offers new ways of seeing ordinary things. I write to promote the common good and decrease the distances between people. Thanks so much for reading.
Mitzi