{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Ashley Lodato","home_page_url":"https://ashleylodato.com","description":"Ashley Lodato","author":{"name":"Ashley Lodato"},"items":[{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/snapshots","html_content":"

Appeared in Methow Valley News 4.29.26

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/snapshots","title":"Snapshots","summary":"Appeared in Methow Valley News 4.29.26","date_modified":"2026-04-29T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/flood-fire-friendship","html_content":"

In the birth years of the Methow Valley Class of 2024—2005 and 2006—Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the levees protecting New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain failed, flooding the city. Pope John Paul II died and was ...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/flood-fire-friendship","title":"Flood Fire Friendship","summary":"In the birth years of the Methow Valley Class of 2024—2005 and 2006—Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the levees protecting New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain failed, flooding the city. Pope John Paul II died and was ...","date_modified":"2024-06-05T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/the-worst-club-in-the-world","html_content":"

I don’t know how to write about last Tuesday’s car accident on Twisp River Road that resulted in the death of one local 19-year-old girl, as well as serious injuries to two other young people from our area. But I don’t k...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/the-worst-club-in-the-world","title":"The Worst Club in the World","summary":"I don’t know how to write about last Tuesday’s car accident on Twisp River Road that resulted in the death of one local 19-year-old girl, as well as serious injuries to two other young people from our area. But I don’t k...","date_modified":"2023-07-26T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/enumeration-the-6-colors-of-8th-grade","html_content":"

* I recently helped with a writing workshop for local eighth grade students, who have been working on creative non-fiction pieces, including enumerations. I wrote this piece as an example for them. Names of all people ex...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/enumeration-the-6-colors-of-8th-grade","title":"Enumeration: the 6 colors of 8th grade","summary":"* I recently helped with a writing workshop for local eighth grade students, who have been working on creative non-fiction pieces, including enumerations. I wrote this piece as an example for them. Names of all people ex...","date_modified":"2023-01-02T20:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/3-glimmers-of-gratitude-on-a-day-that-demands-it","html_content":"

1) A dark morning with a house full of sleeping children, last night’s giggles given way to soft murmurs of slumber and all the promise of the day ahead: hands in pie crust, paintings emerging from paper, Taylor Swift in...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/3-glimmers-of-gratitude-on-a-day-that-demands-it","title":"3 glimmers of gratitude on a day that demands it","summary":"1) A dark morning with a house full of sleeping children, last night’s giggles given way to soft murmurs of slumber and all the promise of the day ahead: hands in pie crust, paintings emerging from paper, Taylor Swift in...","date_modified":"2022-11-24T20:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/enumeration-5-moments-after-dropping-your-child-off-at-college","html_content":"

Poof! Just like that, they're gone. These children you carried, inside you, on your hip, on your front, on your back. Clinging to your leg at the pre-school entrance, hiding behind you when introduced to strangers, dally...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/enumeration-5-moments-after-dropping-your-child-off-at-college","title":"Enumeration: 5 moments after dropping your child off at college","summary":"Poof! Just like that, they're gone. These children you carried, inside you, on your hip, on your front, on your back. Clinging to your leg at the pre-school entrance, hiding behind you when introduced to strangers, dally...","date_modified":"2022-08-29T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/flyer","html_content":"

Sometime in late 2016, I was talking with Dr. John O’Keefe about flying. Dr. O’Keefe, as most of you know, is an avid pilot, as is my father. We were talking about planes and pilots (well, Dr. O’Keefe was talking, I was ...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/flyer","title":"Flyer","summary":"Sometime in late 2016, I was talking with Dr. John O’Keefe about flying. Dr. O’Keefe, as most of you know, is an avid pilot, as is my father. We were talking about planes and pilots (well, Dr. O’Keefe was talking, I was ...","date_modified":"2022-08-24T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/cap-and-gown","html_content":"

Along with nearly 60 of her classmates in the Methow Valley School District, my oldest daughter will graduate from high school on Friday. In between recurring moments of nostalgia I’ve had bouts of regret about all the t...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/cap-and-gown","title":"Cap and Gown","summary":"Along with nearly 60 of her classmates in the Methow Valley School District, my oldest daughter will graduate from high school on Friday. In between recurring moments of nostalgia I’ve had bouts of regret about all the t...","date_modified":"2022-06-01T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/smells-like-home","html_content":"

Methow Valley peeps, I hate to break it to you, but we don’t smell so great.

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/smells-like-home","title":"Smells Like Home","summary":"Methow Valley peeps, I hate to break it to you, but we don’t smell so great.","date_modified":"2021-08-11T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/an-epic-friendship","html_content":"

When I was 28, I got hired as a Program Director with Outward Bound: a job that would change my life in many ways, not the least of which was by gifting me a friendship with a woman whose sense of adventure determined th...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/an-epic-friendship","title":"An Epic Friendship","summary":"When I was 28, I got hired as a Program Director with Outward Bound: a job that would change my life in many ways, not the least of which was by gifting me a friendship with a woman whose sense of adventure determined th...","date_modified":"2021-03-08T20:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/crybaby","html_content":"

The first time I ever went rock climbing, I cried. It wasn't the last time I'd cry on a rock face, but it was the only time I'd ever do it with the intention of never climbing again.

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/crybaby","title":"Crybaby","summary":"The first time I ever went rock climbing, I cried. It wasn't the last time I'd cry on a rock face, but it was the only time I'd ever do it with the intention of never climbing again.","date_modified":"2021-01-04T20:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/tough-enough-to-make-the-difference","html_content":"

When I arrived at Stanford in the fall of 1987, I had no organized sports experience under my belt, other than a brief foray into basketball in 8th grade. But my roommate turned out to be a teen rowing star. She had been...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/tough-enough-to-make-the-difference","title":"Tough Enough to Make the Difference","summary":"When I arrived at Stanford in the fall of 1987, I had no organized sports experience under my belt, other than a brief foray into basketball in 8th grade. But my roommate turned out to be a teen rowing star. She had been...","date_modified":"2020-10-01T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/filters","html_content":"

My best college friends and I may not have been the brightest bulbs in the box, but I assure you that we were far from the dimmest. And yet it took a global pandemic for us to realize that video conferencing was a viable...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/filters","title":"Filters","summary":"My best college friends and I may not have been the brightest bulbs in the box, but I assure you that we were far from the dimmest. And yet it took a global pandemic for us to realize that video conferencing was a viable...","date_modified":"2020-09-01T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/habits","html_content":"

When I was 20, I spent a semester in school with a nun.

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/habits","title":"Habits","summary":"When I was 20, I spent a semester in school with a nun.","date_modified":"2020-08-31T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/climbing-out-of-covid","html_content":"

Sitting at the top of a rock face, Ponderosa Pine forests spread at my feet, a distant view of the Methow River, and beyond that, the snow-capped peaks of the North Cascades, it's hard to remember that I'm in the midst o...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/climbing-out-of-covid","title":"Climbing out of COVID","summary":"Sitting at the top of a rock face, Ponderosa Pine forests spread at my feet, a distant view of the Methow River, and beyond that, the snow-capped peaks of the North Cascades, it's hard to remember that I'm in the midst o...","date_modified":"2020-06-01T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/debts","html_content":"

We thought we were prepared this time. We had limbed trees, cut brush, watered, spread gravel. We had weed-whacked and raked and shoveled. We had tuned up generators and filled up water jugs. We had consolidated our impo...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/debts","title":"Debts","summary":"We thought we were prepared this time. We had limbed trees, cut brush, watered, spread gravel. We had weed-whacked and raked and shoveled. We had tuned up generators and filled up water jugs. We had consolidated our impo...","date_modified":"2015-08-26T19:00:00Z"},{"id":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/the-sounds-of-summer","html_content":"

The sounds of summer: the rhythmic trill of peepers, coyotes’ haunting cries, the gurgle of the river, wind softly brushing pines. Add for summer 2014: thunder’s electric reverberation, the bang and zap of lighting, the ...

","url":"https://ashleylodato.com/on-my-mind/f/the-sounds-of-summer","title":"The Sounds of Summer","summary":"The sounds of summer: the rhythmic trill of peepers, coyotes’ haunting cries, the gurgle of the river, wind softly brushing pines. Add for summer 2014: thunder’s electric reverberation, the bang and zap of lighting, the ...","date_modified":"2014-08-27T19:00:00Z"}]}