Writer Ellen Morris Prewitt Blog

Phillis Wheatley Poetry Fest

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 5, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Writing. 2 Comments on Phillis Wheatley Poetry Fest

I will take this extra hour of Daylight Savings Time’s end to tell you about this week’s Phillis Wheatley Poetry Fest in Jackson. Jackson State University sponsored the fest. The attendees met both in the downtown Convention Center and on the JSU campus. It was fabulous. Concurrent sessions began each day. A large gathering in the theater...

Plant Therapy

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 26, 2023. Posted in Featured, General. 8 Comments on Plant Therapy

It’s as if we’ve been in stasis since May. First, we went to Europe. Then to Canada. Then to Colorado. In between we bought a condo in Memphis and went to Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. All that time, the house in New Orleans waited. The HVAC dying. Weeds growing in the sidewalk. The courtyard unattended. The tropicals were...

Update on the Legacy Wall and Retreating Dangers

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 14, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, In the Name of Mississippi novel. 6 Comments on Update on the Legacy Wall and Retreating Dangers

Hi, y’all. I’ve been writing, and that has taken my eyes off posting. Time for an update. Legacy Wall Unveiling Yesterday, we attended the Legacy Wall unveiling ceremony at Jackson State University. Because of our support of the English Department’s creative writing program, Tom and I got our names on the wall. I am so grateful...

Creativity Inside a Supportive Group

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 10, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, LAWYER, Writing. 10 Comments on Creativity Inside a Supportive Group

Today in writing group, I wrote about how practicing law haunts me. Why the hell do I dream about it every week, every ten days, every two weeks. Never more than a month goes by without a “practicing law” dream. Inside the writing, buried as deep as the pea beneath the hundred stacked mattresses, was the question: what gives you your...

September Stories, or Happy New Year!

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 6, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Writing. 6 Comments on September Stories, or Happy New Year!

Today, driving down St. Charles, our oldest grandson said, “That sign says ‘Happy New Year.'” A conversation ensued about whether the sign was still up or already up. I thought, September has always been the New Year to me. When I see the calendar in my brain, it’s shaped like an Allen wrench. It goes straight across the...

American Racism

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 24, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 8 Comments on American Racism

If you think racism in America is a Southern problem, you are not paying attention. American racism has never been a Southern problem. Our federal government has always enforced racist norms. When Nat Turner rebelled, the federal government sent in the United States Navy to stop the uprising. Both the American Navy and Army were used to crush perhaps...

My Attachment to Things, So Embarrassing

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 10, 2023. Posted in General, LOVE. 10 Comments on My Attachment to Things, So Embarrassing

When Daddy Joe died—killed by a train in what the responding officer called as clean a t-bone as he’d ever seen—Mother said she stopped caring about things. Only people mattered. I always took this to mean that attachment to things was shallow. Yet. I love my new burnt sienna pillow cases in wrinkly linen. I love my 1950s TV trays I’m...

How Long Has It Been?

Written by novagiant on August 7, 2023. Posted in In the Name of Mississippi novel, Writing. 21 Comments on How Long Has It Been?

Oh, my goodness! It’s been forever since I’ve spoken with y’all. Okay, about a month but when was the last time I went a month without blogging? The long hiatus means I’ve got a lot to talk about. First—because I’m sitting in front of the window watching the weather arrive from Arkansas—we have re-established a presence...

The Howard Thurman Walk

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 4, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, GOD. 6 Comments on The Howard Thurman Walk

I started this July the 4th morning with a walk. A join virtual walk. My Contemplative Justice group yesterday decided to walk together wherever we were at eight o’clock this morning. We’ve been reading the work of the mystic Howard Thurman, whose original entry to God was leaning against the trunk of an oak. This morning, we would do...

Releasing Those We Love to God

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 2, 2023. Posted in Featured, General, GOD. 6 Comments on Releasing Those We Love to God

We read the “Abraham almost kills Isaac” story in church today, and I have thoughts. Mostly on what this Genesis story says about releasing those we love to God. Mother, her children, and God When my mother was a young widow, she had her children baptized. She had returned to her native Mississippi where she’d given birth...