Peeps

I’m not the only writer in the family with a strong point of view and a good sense of humor. Sarah liked to write and her writing was characterized by dry whimsical touches that were very funny, along with revelations of what was going on in her head that floored me. She wrote a lot of stories, and biographical pieces too, especially with the help of her tutor, Emily Montgomery, and with her wonderful occupational therapist from middle school, Katie Ablard, who both really ‘got’ her.

Once Sarah and Katie produced a marvelous story/autobiographical pastiche called “Sarah and the Purple Glue Stick,” and I have to share some excerpts here. This story demonstrates how a good writer can riff off of the most mundane concept or stimulus and begin free associating and developing content and relating the notion to her own life. Sarah was such an accomplished writer.

 

There’s much more to the plot of this story; this is of course just an excerpt. I’m only trying to do it justice here and catch the flavor of it. I see “Purple Glue Stick” as a kind of follow-up to, or perhaps even a raw duology with, an earlier work of Sarah’s that I also love, called White Crayon, about the adventures of another school supply. I’ll save that for another time.