Friday, August 26, 2022

"Prairie Mary" Strachan Scriver, 1939-2022

My last email from "Prairie Mary" Scriver begins, "Alas my 80 years are catching up with me."

I'd never guess it from Mary's typing. She was one of the few I told of Luce's transitioning. She calmed me the fuck down with some straight talk. And then I disappeared. 

This is her picture: 

Mary Strachan Scriver

Mary Strachan Scriver was a Writer. She can be read on Medium and blogspot. Her books at Lulu are here. Bronze Inside and Out  can be had at the University of Calgary Press here. I got this picture from her Twitter feed here

My thanks to Michael Blowhard at 2Blowhards for the introduction. And special thanks to Dave Lull and Cowtown Pattie for keeping me in the loop. 

This is We Want GroOove. “Prairie Mary” might hate this song — I don’t know. But this is my blog and I get to do what I want. And the Mary I remember would love that!

4 comments:

Joel Swagman said...

I discovered Mary via your blog. I read her occasionally. So, I guess I owe you the thanks for the introduction.

Whisky Prajer said...

De nada, man! 1,000 words -- a DAY. It's no wonder she got a bit Trumpy near the end. What else you gonna write about?

pdb said...

Just catching this.

I’ve tried to work Prairie Mary into my rounds, such as they’ve ever been, over the years, and failed — as likewise at working in so many other things that would undoubtedly do me good. (Struggling to stay with her reflects my being so thoroughly an east-coaster, I think, rarely relating readily to things rooted in the western bulk of the continent. Which is a bit clearer to me than it used to be, these days uprooted and a foreigner on prairie’s edge — living in her div school neighborhood of 40 years ago, as it happens.) It’s heartening for me now to be reminded you were in regular conversation with her all along until interrupted last year.

Whisky Prajer said...

I certainly didn't read it every word penned by Prairie Mary but her emails are another matter, as you can imagine. I do miss her.