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stories
for the information age
These bite-sized stories chronicle my efforts, both pitiful and successful,
to navigate the rapidly-changing world.
My hope is that they help you do the same.
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Aug 17, 20231 min read
EVERYONE IS FEEDING
On this narrow spit of land, shell fragments fleck the sand—scallop, quahog, whelk. Last night's dishes. A bind of pipers scampers at the...
Dec 23, 20221 min read
ON A WEDNESDAY MORNING
As I wrap your gift, I have the irrational desire to somehow shield you from the terrible emptiness the holidays can bring. It is an...
Dec 5, 20221 min read
PLEASE PASS THE BABY
On Thanksgiving, we passed the baby around. We took turns holding her, swaying her in our arms. We ate cheese and crackers, and then we...
Oct 4, 20221 min read
BEFORE LOVE
If you snip a few of the blooms that grow on the garden edge with sharp shears. If you cut in pursuit of beauty, in the hope of bringing...
Sep 14, 20221 min read
EMPTY-HANDED
In the bookstore, the fusty scent of ink and pulp. I want to lie down on the floor and breathe in the smell of words. I want to hold the...
Aug 25, 20221 min read
INTO THE NIGHT
Last night, a cricket was in the house. He made his high-pitched song and I listened from bed. He trilled and he chirped. He was calling...
Aug 19, 20221 min read
TELL IT AGAIN
As we meandered through Roman ruins, my son told us about the Tetrarchy, the ambition of Constantine, the greed of Nero, the eloquence of...
Aug 3, 20221 min read
I HAVE DOG-EARED YOU
Sometimes, while I write, I put a pile of books on the table next to me. From time to time, I touch the pile, hoping for some osmosis of...
Jul 28, 20221 min read
WHEN WE WERE APART
There were no cellphones back then. Back then, when we were apart, we wrote letters to each other. On legal pads, or binder paper. In...
Nov 11, 20211 min read
SLOW LIFE
I have always been a slow reader. But lately, my pace seems to have slowed even more. One good book can take months to finish. Maybe my...
Oct 28, 20211 min read
I'VE CHANGED MY MIND
I push the weights up and down on the wobbly workout bench. I notice my body in the mirror—still able, but altered somehow. I look away...
Oct 7, 20211 min read
THE BODY
When women are together for any period of time, eventually, we talk about our bodies. We talk about our skin, our knees, our hair—so much...
Jul 20, 20211 min read
VACATION
One summer, we rented a house by the bay. The house was full of spiders and the kitchen smelled of food gone bad. While my husband took...
May 6, 20211 min read
THE DIM LIGHT OF THE LAMP
It was summer the first time I read James Joyce's novella, The Dead. I read it in that tiny bed by the sea with my husband snoring...
Apr 15, 20212 min read
THE LIFE WE WANT TO LIVE
In each of my childhood memories, smoke plumes across the scene. My parents smoked in the car, tipped ashes out of the triangular window,...
Mar 26, 20211 min read
NOCTURNE
All day I wait for night -- the cricket whir, the moonlight, the hush. If daylight belongs to all creatures, night is possessive; it...
Feb 18, 20211 min read
ZOOM FUNERAL
At the appointed time, hundreds of us log on to the virtual memorial service. We gather to mourn in one another's living rooms, home...
Feb 11, 20212 min read
IMAGE OVERLOAD
It was a cold winter evening when my future husband and I went to the Met with our figure drawing class. The night was brisk, but inside...
Jan 27, 20211 min read
FLORIBUNDA
At dusk, when I step outside to get the mail, a half-moon hangs overhead. This is January in California and the year is 2021. The Santa...
Dec 3, 20201 min read
OUT THERE
We are talking, laughing, nodding, pitching in to a communal hum. All of us. Together. Endorphins are being released with each I know...
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