I remember those jeans. Gap, circa 1998 and I never found another pair like them. They were retired in 2012, knees ripped out and patched at least twice, faded to almost-white, and definitely threadbare. The shirt is unremarkable if you... Read more →
I cropped the monitor out. There are eight people in a Teams meeting with THEIR CAMERAS ACTUALLY ON. Not to mention the working file on the main screen. That's just not the sort of thing we want to put out... Read more →
This is us; the world, you know? When the photograph was taken, the average age of these dancers was 6.43; that gorgeous smile in blue is eight, the dubious pink princess in the lower right corner is five, and the... Read more →
They came from Sugarland in Texas; hadn't been there very long, and before that Ohio and before that Connecticut. In Sugarland, he pronounced himself done. He was sixty, or almost, and he was done. My dad, he tells a pretty... Read more →
Freshman Year - Fall Semester: Lesson Number One: these are not your siblings These are not your siblings. If you were lucky enough to grow up with a room of your own, that time is over. The room you share... Read more →
Five year old footsteps pounding down the hall from the living room... ...MAHHHHHHHMMMMMYYYY! MICHAEL'S NOT DOING NICENESS COUNTS!!!!! MOMMMMMMEEEEEEE!!! I don't know what he did, but she turned his ass in, assuming there might be such thing as a Niceness... Read more →
Writer's prompts are magical. There is a section in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in which the protagonist is remembering a moment with a college student struggling to write well. I won't get into the philosophical discussion of... Read more →
I was only expecting steam from the fissures; not a full scale eruption. I think, maybe many of us think, if we look at a thing often enough, eventually we soften the impact. I don't think we do; I think... Read more →
My Aunt Annie. Not so sure about this selfie business. Heather, I don't know how to do this. Yes you do. You're doing it right now. She was seventeen when I was born, and married at twenty; three and a... Read more →