28. ❝ Risk and Reward
Listen now | Nothing IS something. Without it math doesn't work. Paintings suffer. So do people.
River Journeys
A memoir by Anne Ayers Koch
Live Last read · last published · next check
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27. ❝ Time and Materials
Listen now | Sort. Simplify. Substitute.
26. ❝ October Coloratura
Listen now | Poem
25. ❝ Living Color
Listen now | Come in. Your color adds to our story. Welcome.
24. ❝ The Company of Strangers
Listen now | “Come in,” she said. “There’s a place right here.”
23. ❝ Good News Disguised
Listen now | When the critique arrived some weeks later, I tore the envelope open. “We regret to inform you…,” it began.
22. ❝ Rebalance
Listen now | Outside, drought weakened / the brittle trees, fading them / to sickly grayish-brown. // Inside, one lone faux fir—imperial, / emerald green, impassive—loomed.
21. ❝ Shape Shift
Listen now | My “perfect” planning punctured—like Harry Potter’s unpleasant Aunt Petunia after an unfortunate magic spell. We needed a different model... Time had lost its shape.
20. ❝ Grayscale Neglect
Listen now | I think about Oliver too. He is still asking for more. One hundred and seventy-four years have passed since his request. I wonder how long he will have to wait.
19. ❝ Time Arrested
Listen now | The painting instructor introduced new subjects every term. Landscapes, still lifes... flowers of every variety—except one. Roses. No matter how often we asked she replied, “You’re not ready."
18. ❝ Through a Paint Box Prism
Listen now | On anxiety, focus, and what Van Gogh knew about putting down the fires in your head.
17. ❝ Off Kilter
Listen now | As the woman’s movement gained steam I was caught between the residue of 19th century expectations and the rising curtain of the looming 21st.
16. ❝ Fired Edges
Listen now | Was it art or was it vandalism? The answer is neither. It’s the wrong question.
15. ❝ A New Dance
Listen now | The girl who won is gone. She doesn’t remember / what convinced the judges. What were we then?
14. ❝ Crossing the Border
Listen now | “What do ‘progress’ and ‘better’ really mean?”
13. ❝ Rediscovery
Listen now | Morning routines. We all have them though parts change with age. I begin by writing one letter… sometimes more. It is a habit I began as a young teacher.
12. ❝ The World Comes Home
Listen now | Proponents and detractors alike scoff at the antiquated idea of delivering paper mail anywhere in the country. “That’s the point!” I want to shout.
11. ❝ Moving On
Listen now | Beauty from order springs.
10. ❝ Soul Shaping
Listen now | “Calligraphy is discipline for the soul.”
09. ❝ Looking for Perfect
Listen now | Penmanship class showed me practice counts. In painting, I learned vanishing points help organize space and depth, what is important and what needs to recede.