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About Schmutzie
Elan Morgan arrived on the scene in the dead of winter in 1972 and now thrives physically in Regina, Canada and virtually as the founder, designer, administrator, and blogger at Schmutzie.com, the Canadian Weblog Awards, Five Star Friday, Schmoetry, and the Grace in Small Things social network, as well as being a contributing writer at MamaPop, with the help of three cats and a spouse that doesn't quit. Add to that the fact that she is also known to needlecraft, photograph, and web design the hell out of whatever else she sees fit and has survived cancer, mental illness, jerk lovers, and the torture of beige cubicles, and she is basically a superhero, at least as long as her laptop battery holds out.
How I Became a Conflicted Omnivore
Meat became much more than just meat for me that day. It has become a real and living issue about love and humanity and a concern about how the way we extend ourselves into the world becomes, in turn, what we are. We become what we do, and what we do is terrible. [Read more]
S/he: Stuck
As Schmutzie discovered, coming of age in the middle of a gender crisis is less fun than you'd think... [Read more]
S/he: In the Beginning
A young child struggles with the early stages of self-realization and tries to make sense of the hand she's been dealt. [Read more]
Oh, To Be A Drunk Methuselah
As the sock was pulled along her leg and past her ankle, a fine cloud of dry skin, speckled with larger flakes, sprung into the air. Breathing solely through my mouth had solved the foot funk problem, but it backfired when it came to flying skin. I felt a large flake fly past my uvula and stick to the back of my throat. Death snuck in under cover of old lady skin. [Read more]
My Dentist was a Sadist
Back in the day, when I was a naïve little kid who loved to pick out her very own jeweled rings from the receptionist's desk after getting a filling, I had not yet plumbed the depths of pain and fear brought on by forcible tooth extraction...with no anesthetic! [Read more]
In the Beginning: How the World is Born
I was raised within the confines of a religion that believed in the power of words. John 1:1 stuck in my brain with the ka-thunking rhythm of a train on tracks: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [Read more]
Freed: How I Lost God and Gained the World
It struck me hard and loud at the age of 17 when I finally understood that I did not really believe in the capital-G God that had been taught to me since someone could press my palms together in nightly prayer. I had no faith, because I had no belief. [Read more]
Cancer, Cancer Everywhere: An Invitation
I used to look at my life as having two periods: BC, before cancer, and AC, after cancer. Now, though, I see those two halves differently. There were 34 years when I did not know cancer, and now, and for the rest of my life, I do know cancer. [Read more]
Rudy: Learning from Death, Embracing Life
On Sunday morning, I dutifully planted myself on a church pew, cursed the itch of new nylon stockings, and entertained myself with the silent addition of the phrase “under the covers at night” to the ends of hymn titles. [Read more]
Discovered Love: The Actuality of Magic
When the one you love is engaged to someone else, do you let go and go on with your life...or do you follow your heart even when it seems illogical? [Read more]
