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Writings
Portfolio
Books by Eileen Slifer, Artist
My Etsy Store
My Patreon
About the Artist
Contact
Subscribe

life stories

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A Stranger Changed My World Today

February 16, 2023
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Personal Writings, Writings, Writings on Violence in its Various Forms

Our world(s) can change in an instant, in the blink of an eye. My world has seemed pretty good since Sunday night, but in one moment this afternoon I came ear-to-ear with how verbally violent strangers can be. I had taken a two-day trip to Newark, Delaware, my hometown of 49 years, for an eye doctor appointment, to deliver some large artwork, and to visit with several friends. In terms of meaningful, deep and connecting conversations, this visit seemed exceptional....

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By eileenslifer
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The Year I Slept Through Christmas

December 19, 2022
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Life Stories, Personal Writings, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings

1983 was definitely the year I slept through Christmas. I checked the calendar. Yep, Christmas fell on a Sunday that year. And, I recall where I was the surrounding years. Oh wait. It actually might have been 1982. There’s a chance it was that year. But, I really think it was 1983. Not sure where I was 1982. Christmas of 1981 I had taken a bus to Boonsboro, MD and spent the holiday with my Aunt Virginia, Uncle Bill and...

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By eileenslifer
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Mountain Daisies of West Virginia

December 7, 2022
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Artwork For Sale, Life Stories, Personal Writings, Uncategorized, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings

In July of this year I took a trip to my mother’s hometown of Buckhannon, West Virginia. It was a personal pilgrimage of sorts. I had only been to Buckhannon once (and very briefly) during the summer of 1978. That was the summer between my father’s retirement in 1977 after working over forty years with the Soil Conservation Service in Elkton, MD, and his death in May 1979. We had gone from the annual Slifer family reunion in Boonsboro, MD...

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By eileenslifer
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When Peculiar People Decide That You Are Acting Peculiar!

November 21, 2022
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Family Outlines and Assorted Collectibles, Life Stories, Personal Writings, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings, Writings on Violence in its Various Forms

(written 11/5/22 to 11/2022) In April of 1946, three of my mother’s siblings decided my mother was acting peculiar. Peculiar enough to permanently end her college pursuits and dreams (it is appearing she was interested in getting a degree in music rather than business), by withdrawing her from West Virginia University without her consent when she was a student in good standing, gainfully employed and a twenty-two year old adult. Peculiar enough to be violent with her. And peculiar enough...

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By eileenslifer
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Eating KFC and a Front Row Seat

October 30, 2022
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Illustrated Short Stories, Life Stories, Personal Writings, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings, Writings on Violence in its Various Forms

I feel like I must have told this story a thousand times in my life. And often, in my younger years, in a fast-paced comic style as though I were recounting a freak show that I had the amusement of watching. Indeed, it is probably the first of many life stories that take on an almost rehearsed recounting of the highlights of this day, evening and the many days, months and years that would follow and be influenced (in my...

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By eileenslifer
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Acknowledging My Mother’s Birthday Today

October 21, 2022
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Personal Writings, Writings

Taking a few moments from my busy day – after having noticed the date – to mention that my mother, Margaret Ruth Linger Slifer, was born on this day ninety-nine years ago. Last night before bed, I opened my mother’s red diary to browse through her notations from April 1946 and then her large-hand-written notations in the same journal in January of 1967. I was three years old then, and apparently, she was quite upset around that time (reflective) about...

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By eileenslifer
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Freely Emotional, Distorted and Intentionally Child-like Illustrations

October 10, 2022
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Life Stories, Personal Writings, Short Stories/Creative Writing, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings

In the process of working here and there on written out expressions of various life stories, going back to my first one done in 2006 called Crime and Punishment of the Problem Child, I continue to illustrate various parts in a very spontaneous (few preliminary pencil details, just enough to put on the marker) and loose style. My goal in these is first speed (I work these in as some type of reward in between doing commissioned watercolor – a...

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By eileenslifer
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The Mirror: A Short Story Written in 2005

August 8, 2022
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Family Outlines and Assorted Collectibles, Illustrated Short Stories, Life Stories, Personal Writings, Short Stories/Creative Writing, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings

(Preface: This story was written in the fall of 2005 and dealt with both the death of my first marriage covenant and the death of my mother, originally written in an intertwined rumination of sorts. It was written in a free-association and free-form style, actually in one single evening, from a friend’s beach house where I went alone with a key, to pore through the paperwork involved in filing for divorce through a simple mediated process where we worked out...

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By eileenslifer
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Crime and Punishment of the Problem Child

July 20, 2022
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Illustrated Short Stories, Life Stories, Personal Writings, Short Stories/Creative Writing, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings, Writings on Violence in its Various Forms

by Eileen Slifer An Illustrated Short Story Written February 4, 2006 based on recollections of a true event “Life is like a movie in which you get to play the part in a scene just once, experiencing the sequence of events with all its sights, sounds, and subtleties in moments of time, leaving you nothing but mental and emotional replay for years to come.” That I was a particularly clever or devious child I would not describe myself as such....

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By eileenslifer
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I Wish I Had Never Conceived You

July 13, 2022
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Illustrated Short Stories, Life Stories, My Poetry, Personal Writings, Women's, Family, and Recovery Issues, Writings, Writings on Violence in its Various Forms

I was standing in my mother’s kitchen, in my childhood home. I was in the same kitchen where my father had stood over the sink six years earlier on a Friday evening in early May, arguing with my mother, while having a heart attack. I was trying to get past my mother and out the back door, and she stood on the step or two between the kitchen and the back door landing. She was holding the wrought-iron railing and...

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By eileenslifer
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Eileen Slifer

I am a visual artist who works in a variety of mediums - producing fine art, illustration and design commissions/products for clients. I have been creating since childhood and sharing my giftings for hire since 1989. I also love to write and have been expressing in this way for a number of years in private poems, stories and journals that have been shared with treasured friends or publicly. Thank you for visiting my blog. I value the time and interest you spend on my expressions, and I read every comment.

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