Joan L. Cannon

Joan L. Cannon liked to use her middle initial because so few of her maiden namesakes are left anywhere (Huguenot LaPrades). She was retired teacher, retail manager and author of three novels in paperback, Settling and Maiden Run, a collection of short stories called Peripheral Vision and her latest, a collection of poetry, My Mind Is Made of Crumbs, all available from Amazon and on order from independent booksellers.

Joan's most recent novel is Second Growth and can be purchased through Amazon. From childhood, there have been toss-ups for her avocations among reading, riding horses, painting, local flora and fauna and writing.

Editor's note: We were gifted by Joan's vibrant, inspired, writing for the website and plan to revisit her essays often. Joan passed away on October 10, 2017.

Learning to Ride – or Not: A Permanent ineptitude With Regard to Two Wheels

Joan L. Cannon writes: I learned to swim at six. I learned to ride horses by the time I was seven, even won a couple of blue ribbons for equitation, passed my lifesaving tests and had some medals for swimming. Handling a canoe, executing a jack-knife from a springboard, target shooting with a longbow or a .22 rifle came fairly easily to me, but I never learned to turn a cartwheel and I never learned to ride a bike. more »

Culture Watch Reviews by Joan L. Cannon: The Railway Man's Wife and The Yoga of Max's Discontent

Joan L. Cannon reviews: Hay describes loves lost, pasts savaged by shock and horror, hopes defeated in the wake of happenings not yet consigned to experience. She describes vividly a landscape that enriches each of the main characters, and that beguiles the reader as brilliantly as any travel brochure. Bajaj is a master at creating suspense; it's hard to put the story down. The journey with Max will leave memories and likely questions for a very long time. more »

Who is the Expert on Marriage? A Typical Breadth of Experience by Today’s Younger Generation

Joan L. Cannon writes: A marriage would be a partnership in the profoundest sense. It would be the most welded commitment possible. It would presume without doubts ultimate mutual trust. It would be physically passionate, emotionally profound, mutually dependent, fully understanding of differing opinions but pliable and accepting and curious, respectful and humorous, and above all, appreciative. Maybe that is simply an annotated statement about love. Sign WHO IS THE EXPERT? Not for the first time I saw a call for a contest for manuscripts on marriage. As a theme/subject for… more »

Culture Watch Review By Joan L. Cannon: The Social Sex, A History of Female Friendship

This book reminds us how far we have come when there are more highly educated women everywhere than at any other time in history. Still unresolved is the question of friendships between women and men. The difficulty of engaging in this fashion is emphasized by the need repeatedly to declare to doubters that sex is not a component of such a relationship. more »