Diva Teacher, Writer, Mom, Potential Princess & Possible Cat Lady who's also positively in love with Ricky Martin
There I said it–er, typed it. Now I need to just get started. I know I want it to be a picture book. And I know I want it to be for children 2-8. I also know I want to write about my cat Izzy and her adventures. I just did some very brief research […]
Read MoreThe following is another writing exercise from my class with writer Abigail Thomas. Do you have any guesses as to the assignment? “Anyone want to place bets on how long my Stanley Steamed, freshly cleaned carpets will last? The last of the birthday ice cream cake for Jerrica, 27, and Natalie, 25. Our last teenager […]
Read MoreToday, June 5: the third day of my summer vacation. Aaaah. I’m still not fully recovered from the last days of the school year with seniors—phew—but I do already miss them. Four flower beds have been weeded and planted, but not mulched yet, shoot. And another very large couple of flower beds need my attention […]
Read MoreAs I pulled in to the parking lot of the synagogue this past Sunday, I noticed not one, but two, city police cars parked at either end. I was caught off guard, but only for a split second. Of course. Places for religious worship used to be safe havens. So were our schools. Theaters, too. […]
Read MoreSee that creek right over there—the one beside my house? The one that’s less than ten feet away, lined with trees, and about three acres long? There are snakes there. A lot of snakes. More than I’ve ever seen in one place—besides the zoo—in all my life. And I live beside it. I am terrified […]
Read MoreIn less than eleven months, both of my daughters have made me a grandma, Mimi, and both of them prematurely. Unfortunately, I don’t mean that I wasn’t ready. Not at all. Last May, Jerrica had Little Layla two months early (at 31 weeks) due to complications from preeclampsia, and a week ago, Natalie gave birth […]
Read MoreAaah, Mr. Fowler. My seventh and eighth grade shop teacher. (I was the only student to cut her finger on a jigsaw one of those years.) Also a high school math teacher before that. (He taught my mom when she was in high school. Sssshhhh.) And if memory serves, he was also a teacher of […]
Read MoreI am the senior class advisor this year. The last time I was in charge, our tragi-comedy Othello, with an all male cast (shout out!), rocked the house—and not one, but two! nights in a row! Will I be able to outdo myself this year? Will the class of 2019 beat the class of 2015 […]
Read MoreThe memoir developed out of my MFA’s thesis manuscript written between the summers of 2012 and 2014, but the very first piece I wrote that made it into the book was done the winter of 2011, just months after the accident. After getting my degree, I let it all simmer for another two years until […]
Read MoreWhat you are about to read was originally published on Facebook on January 24, 2009, at 7:48 p.m. I had just turned 40. It is now February 2, 2019, and I am publishing this on my website at 6:07 p.m. I have just turned 50. I will revise each of the 16 to match who […]
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