{"id":5660,"date":"2026-11-01T21:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/?page_id=5660"},"modified":"2026-11-01T21:55:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:55:45","slug":"snapshots-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/?page_id=5660","title":{"rendered":"SNAPSHOTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

A FAMILY ALBUM<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to convince you of anything. You would never understand.<\/span>
\nYou would never really believe me. No one ever does.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baba, my Polish great-grandmother from Riga, a family legend.
\nShe died before I could see her for myself.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

Baba, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My grandparents\u2019 wedding. He divorced her for desertion.
\nShe told her daughters he never did anything for them.
\nHe drank beer and carried a gun and it was Prohibition.
\nA Russian, he Americanized his name to Mike Miller.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana’s wedding, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Sisters Dolores and Virginia.
\nDolly took her stepfather\u2019s name and made a religion of her family.
\nVirginia, my mother and the elder sister, reverted to Miller.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sisters, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My step-grandfather standing behind a rosebush, God knows why.
\nWe somehow never had anything to say to each other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Grandpop, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My mom when she still had her swagger.
\nShe was vain and damaged and beautiful and interested in everything and very much alive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Virginia, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Aunt Dolly, already defeated.
\nShe refused to see and refused to act and made an art of passive aggression.
\nThe most intelligent and witty of her mother\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dolly, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My mother and brother.
\nThe image captures her characteristic tension.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Spring, South Jersey, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana and me, her captive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and me, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Me again, in overalls and a babushka, with a chicken.
\nI have this sense of Jersey sandy soil in my bones.
\nThe smell of tomato leaves, cement birdbaths surrounded by zinnias.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Red scarf, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My brother and me and some background drama.
\nNo doubt my mother with the camera, putting a good face everything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Williamstown, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Mickie and Chuck, a prophetic image.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mickie and Chuck, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My Mom the plant lady at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
\nShe predeceased her mother, who insisted on erasing the Miller name from her obituary.
\nBut hey, she was dead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana with Mr. D., her late-life companion.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana with Mr. D., her late-life companion.
\nI think she was better with him than with either of her husbands.
\nWhat a thoroughly good person he was, what a blessing upon my generation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and Mr. D., 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Me at the Gulf of Mexico, a year or so from starting law school.
\nStill very new at life and deeply anxious.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Red suede jacket, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Chuck, nature photographer.
\nBecause te woods are a safe space and we\u2019re not going to deal with anything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chuck, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana and Shep in her Pennsylvania backyard.
\nShe won.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and Shep, 18″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A FAMILY ALBUM I\u2019m not trying to convince you of anything. You would never understand. You would never really believe me. No one ever does.\u00a0 Baba, my Polish great-grandmother from Riga, a family legend. She died before I could see her for myself. My grandparents\u2019 wedding. He divorced her for desertion. She told her daughters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5660","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5660"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5666,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5660\/revisions\/5666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}