icon caret-left icon caret-right instagram pinterest linkedin facebook twitter goodreads question-circle facebook circle twitter circle linkedin circle instagram circle goodreads circle pinterest circle

Thatwhich

Sing-along with Louie

Louis Hauser, Sunrise Park Junior High, 1976
–In honor of my teacher Louis Hauser, who died earlier this month

At Sunrise Junior High, we were on modular scheduling. Of course we were. It was the 1970s; everything was mod. Instead of hours, our school day was divided into 23-minute units called “mods.” A class might be two mods, a lab might be three. Lunch was one. During a free mod or two between classes, you might go to study hall. But more likely, you went to sing-along.  Read More 
7 Comments
Post a comment

Advice from a professional writer: Write what you don't know

I only hope that as a writer I influence others as much as I influence myself. It started off innocently enough. During my first marriage and before I had kids, I landed a great gig writing honeymoon articles for Bride’s magazine. For six months, I traveled to various destinations in Mexico  Read More 
Be the first to comment

World peace, all around

“What’s your goal for 2014?” my 17-year-old daughter asked yesterday. We were waiting for an audience with her orthopedist, an appointment I moved up a week so it would still be under the 2013 medical plan and thus covered in full. A goal? After the year we had, I was not thinking in terms of goals. I’m typically in survival mode.  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Midlife mondegreen with a touch of ennui

A couple days ago I learned a new word. Mondegreen is “the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song, due to near homophony." Ever since, my brain has been sorting through its files, the worn, bent edges of index cards still organized by the Dewey Decimal System, trying to come up with the name of a performer from the 70s, someone like Jose Feliciano or Bobby Goldsboro, or maybe Freddie Prinze (the elder), whose name I always hear in the lyrics of a Go-Go’s song, or maybe it’s the Bangles.  Read More 
Be the first to comment

A little levity, amidst the brevity

Sam and me, a few years back and upside down.
You know how it is. Most of us, by a certain age, have a tragedy to commemorate/uncelebrate during a particular time of year. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of mine, I’ve been toeing the line on Great Sadness all day. I remembered even before I was officially awake this morning.  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Sending your innocent child to jail is, by definition, abusive.

Tonight, a single mom sits in jail because she won’t let her parents have unsupervised visits with her 7-year-old daughter. She refuses grandparent visitation due to alleged sexual abuse by someone in her parents’ home.  Read More 
3 Comments
Post a comment

Standing your ground in shifting sand

When I was 20 years old and clueless as to what I wanted to be when I grew up, a few of my friends started talking about moving to Hawaii. It wasn’t just talk. My roommate’s mom lived there, and a little outpost was forming on the North Shore of Oahu, including my boyfriend, Mark.  Read More 
Be the first to comment

A very minor rant

Sometimes I think we live to break each other’s hearts. I know the point is that we are learning, evolving, but why in the world does this require so much heartbreak? Our children die. Our parents die. We die. You created this beautiful thing, but also this ugly, blistering dark side, and somehow we’re expected to embrace/endure accordingly? To turn on an effing dime?  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Driving me crazy

I’ve yet to perfect my role as passenger of Little Miss Learner’s Permit. I claw at the door, as if some part of my subconscious is considering abandoning the vehicle by leaping to safety. My foot is constantly searching for the brake. “It doesn’t work on that side,” Grace says, which  Read More 
Be the first to comment

This isn't some mamby-pamby turtle story. This shit is real.

Today Churchy the three-legged turtle went to day camp. It was the second year in a row he was asked to enlighten campers about life as a turtle. Just so you know, it’s more than an educational program. The nature center has two resident turtles, and after the meet-and-greet there’s a race among the three, including the guest turtle, Churchy. And surprise, surprise, last year Churchy won, despite having 25 percent fewer legs than the others. Read More 
Be the first to comment