Each year I enter a story in the Easy Reader contest for writing and photography. This year I submitted a short story I wrote a couple years ago. I didn't win, but the story is in print for the Easy Reader 54th Anniversary Writing and Photography Contest. It's always fun to see stories in print.... Continue Reading →
Don’t knock diving the house reef
When I started diving, I made a promise to myself to take a dive trip at least once a year. I did a pretty good job sticking with that philosophy for a couple of decades. Well, until the pandemic. Then any plans I had before the lockdowns were delayed and then delayed, and then delayed... Continue Reading →
Behind every good photo is a good story
It's that time of year again, the Easy Reader News writing and photo contest. I didn't win, but they published my story and my photo. It's really about how art is not so easy even though it might look simple.
Lockdown artist
The proverbial bubble we in the South Bay live in got smaller during lockdown. For me, it was reduced to the size of my wannabe two bedroom apartment. I couldn’t go out for my walks on the beach. And a single friend remarked she was forgetting words as time went on without speaking out loud... Continue Reading →
The something, not nothing approach to New Year’s resolutions
Janice Nigro I just got done discussing how much I dislike New Year's resolutions, and now here I am writing about them. Because if you're like me, New Year’s resolutions set up a certain dilemma. Panic sets in already on New Year’s Eve when the pact with the new year might fall apart at the... Continue Reading →
Experience Alor naturally
by Janice Nigro The idea of traveling to Alor was as enchanting to me as finding the field of anemones. The area is remote. Divers go there, but throngs of tourists do not. But I still am a girl who likes flushing toilets, warm showers, and tasty food. I booked a land based trip to... Continue Reading →
The artist in you: Water&Wood 2019
by Janice Nigro I have been living in Southern California for several years now. I know, I hear a collective “aww” it can’t be that hard to live here-sun, palm trees, and the ocean wilderness right there in front of me. But you always give something up to get something else. In my case, I... Continue Reading →
Macrophotography: Up close and personal with the coral reef
My fingers are still tingling. I stretch and bend them several times making sure they aren’t stuck permanently in a clutching position around my underwater housing. Endorphins are coursing through my body. “Mind-blowing,” I am thinking surfacing from my dive in Anemone Fields in the Alor Archipelago, Indonesia. For some of my dive buddies? Yawn.... Continue Reading →
I never bought an underwater rig I didn’t like
by Janice Nigro There I was again. In the store. Less than three weeks before a dive trip. Considering the options. “I just want to see what it looks like,” I said. That was the end. The guy behind the counter knew he had me. “Yeah, here you can hold the housing and see how... Continue Reading →
An affordable piece of art
by Janice Nigro I had a boyfriend in college who wasn’t much of a romantic. But he did leave me a surprise Valentine’s Day card once in a place where I wouldn’t have expected it. I remember the card still today. Without saying much, I felt it said, "I am thinking of you." The history... Continue Reading →