Autism, Fiction Fridays, Guest Posts
Ordinary Lives
Risa would rake her fingers through a dog’s fur and instantly decompress. She’d stroke a cat and shudder as it purred. It was the second month that proved a disaster.
April 16, 2021Latest Posts
On Being Human.-
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Divorce, Guest Posts, pandemic
Covid-19 and My Ultra-Orthodox Children
I was expected to be a meek, obedient wife. When I would try to voice an opinion, my husband would shut me down and get the children to mock me, until, finally, I broke.
April 14, 2021 -
Guest Posts, Health, travel
My Japanese Handkerchief Masks
by Wendy Dodek During this pandemic my thoughts turn to Japan, a country where masks are part of daily…
April 12, 2021 -
Guest Posts, parenting, RacismConfessions of a Brown, White-Girl
Beyond the “N-word,” I knew what the caller meant by calling my father “boy.” My six-foot-five-inch father was no boy. He was big and he could be pretty scary.
April 11, 2021 -
death, Fiction, Fiction Fridays, Guest Posts
Bernoulli’s Heart
A car crash, an OD, a cancer diagnosis, and before you know it your heart is filled with dead people elbowing for space. My heart is getting crowded.
April 9, 2021 -
Books I Will Read Again, Guest Posts
Blow Your House Down by Gina Frangello, A Review
Gina doesn’t flinch when she tells us of the affair that reawakened her sexually while sounding the death knell for two marriages, the regrets she has as a parent, as a daughter.
April 8, 2021 -
Guest Posts, poetry
Morning
Coffee beans should be oily, fragrant, decadent. And the morning should be wide open and roomy to enjoy all of those sips.
April 5, 2021 -
Guest Posts, parenting, Pregnancy
Yellow Coat
I like to think I didn’t let him cry for long. That I recovered my sense of proportion, abandoning whatever had seemed important to insist upon a few minutes ago.
April 4, 2021 -
Fiction, Fiction Fridays, Gender & Sexuality, Guest Posts
In the Flesh of an Apple
When he was a freshman in high school he read online that eating an apple every morning had caffeinated qualities. That was probably bullshit but he’d gotten into a huge habit of eating apples every morning ever since.
April 2, 2021 -
Guest Posts, memories
The Song of the Cicada
The world goes violently sideways, blurring and jerking as the horse bucks and convulses. I fly off, hit my head and elbow and land on my back. I become acutely aware that I’m not wearing a helmet.
March 31, 2021 -
Beating Fear with a Stick, Child Birth, Guest Posts
The Value of Surrender
Only after four days of labor and absolute exhaustion did I finally consent to the surgery that was likely inevitable from the beginning.
March 29, 2021 -
Current Events, Guest Posts, Race/Racism
We Are Massage Therapists Because…
After the face-down part of this imaginary massage, my young client — let’s call him Robert Aaron Long — turns face-up. He takes my wrist and nudges it downwards before I quickly pull away.
March 28, 2021 -
Family, Fiction, Fiction Fridays, Grief, Guest Posts
The Sussman Service
A third groundskeeper plunged the shovel into the mound of dirt. The rabbi recited the Kaddish, but Rachel could only hear the ringing of her mother’s shrill voice, “I told you not to put your father on top of me, I get claustrophobic.”
March 26, 2021 -
Guest Posts, pandemic, writing
When The Smoke Clears
I felt like I was juggling swords on a seesaw. As long as I stayed centered, nothing dropped. But the summer weather was my ballast, and everything changed when the fires arrived in Northern California.
March 24, 2021
