Tag: love

Aunt Alice, CollegeLeave a comment

18 – Lessons from Lifelong Friendships

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

  My oldest friend, Bill Hunt,  was 75 when I met him, and he died when he was 82.  He was a famous psychologist, listed in Who’s Who and honored by the American Psychological Association for his overall contribution to the field of psychology.  He was so well-known that his divorce was reported in The New York Times. In college, I thought anyone who punctuated a story with, “More than ten years ago….”  was old. Non-family old or older people were exotic.  They knew more about life because they  had lived more. They had made mistakes I incessantly and cruelly … Continue reading 18 – Lessons from Lifelong Friendships

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17 – Where’s my mail?

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

  Maybe my friends lost my address?  But I always write my address on every letter.  I learned that years ago when a friend’s excuse was she didn’t know my address. So where’s my mail? Maybe my letters didn’t reach them?  But I received my VISA bill! And my bank statement, so where’s my mail?  It must be lost, somewhere between here and there. Maybe they forgot to put enough overseas air-mail postage on the letter and it was returned? Maybe they used the country’s initials and the mail was rerouted to Ireland, Canada or Egypt as one of my … Continue reading 17 – Where’s my mail?

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Guns and Generosity: Eid Celebrations in UAE

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

I had helped a student who was partially blind last year and he invited me to join his family on the Eid holiday. I couldn’t so he telephoned and told me about the day.   “We go to the mosque and everyone brings their most valuable possession….” he said. “What do they bring?” I asked He tried to avoid answering. I repeated the question.  I could almost see him lower his face, “Their guns.  Some have old ones, some have machine guns.” “Machine guns?” I shouted.  “Men carry machine guns to the mosque!” I have to remind myself that tribal disputes … Continue reading Guns and Generosity: Eid Celebrations in UAE

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Women Drivers – 11

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

   Only women should be allowed to drive.  Men’s biological urge for speed, their quest to overcome all obstacles on the road and their passionate self-absorption once in front of the wheel has littered the road with blood, heartache and years of pain which only a faith in God can heal. “Write about something wonderful or terrible,” I suggested to my students. I received paper after paper describing bloody car accidents.  Never had I known so many young people to have witnessed such carnage. The first time I seriously sat in the driver’s seat, the instructor described all the things … Continue reading Women Drivers – 11

Arabia, Aunt Alice, EFL Teacher BlogLeave a comment

75-Day Summer Break – 7

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

    March 8, 1990   Remember planning last year’s summer holiday?  We teachers have the lavish leisure of a 75-day paid summer holiday. But wait!  Like swamp lots sold in Florida or some property in India, such a lengthy holiday may be a golden time to destroy one’s finances and wreck one’s nerves. Staying home in the Gulf isn’t my first choice. My friends leave town and there aren’t any movies playing at wide-screen theatres.  Bicycling, jogging, camping or Hashing don’t seem inviting. One summer I spent a month on the French Riviera. The franc was nine to a … Continue reading 75-Day Summer Break – 7

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Embracing Life Over 30: A Journey of Freedom – 5

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

  I’m an unmarried woman over 30, sometimes happy, sometimes not so happy, just like many of my married friends, but I am always over 30. Magazines periodically interview rich and famous women over 30 who revel in being over 30.  Actually, they are mostly reveling in being rich and famous. A few years ago, having been over 30 for a while, I realized, with a shrug, “Hey, I’m over 30! I don’t have to do that!”  This new viewpoint gave me a freedom that 18, 21 and 27 had never known. I was teaching in America when I applied … Continue reading Embracing Life Over 30: A Journey of Freedom – 5