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.

Lost: An Incredible Emporium

Joan L. Cannon recalls: Wanamaker's sold pianos: grand, spinet, or upright; upholstery fabrics, draperies, and kitchen appliances. Everything that our family needed, except for standard groceries and alcohol, could be found at Wanamaker's. Gift items, gourmet treats and fancy chocolates, musical instruments other than pianos, sporting goods and evening clothes, waffle irons and radios were at hand. There was mass-produced and one-of-a-kind art, gift items, radios and phonographs … and on and on. I wish something like Wanamaker's could be created someday when we can look for beauty, utility and art for art's sake in a commercial venue — when we no longer need all our resources for trying to save our species and our planet. more »

Here and Now: A History of Trips That Yield the Most Various Experiences in the Smallest Locales

Joan L. Cannon writes: We went on trips to places that would yield the most various experiences in the smallest locales. For instance, an abandoned talc quarry where, with a jackknife as your only tool, you could return to camp with magnetite crystals, garnets, pyrites, and black tourmaline. I know that few people are of greater importance than the primary school teachers and young parents who initiate children into the practice of paying attention – not in a classroom or to lectures alone, but everything that proves to them that they are sentient and alive – in the present. more »

Were They "The Good Ol’ Days?" Doing the Math or Not

Joan L. Cannon writes: I can scarcely believe what I recall as the prices of things — like stamps for a first-class letter at three cents. I sometimes wish I were a statistician with the ability to research and do the sums that would tell me whether the prices were the same proportion of ordinary wages as today's prices are to today's ordinary wages. What is 'ordinary?' Something over the equivalent of today's minimum wage? more »

Culture Watch: Book Review of Did You Ever Have a Family

The precipitating event of the lives intertwined like threads in primitive needlework is the tragedy on their wedding eve of a fatal explosion that destroys the young couple, sons and a lover. The bereavements leave behind survivors who are forever changed. Even the landscape where the exploded house once stood is forever wiped out. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the individuals whose existence has been altered beyond their own and others’ comprehension. more »