Diva Teacher, Writer, Mom, Potential Princess & Possible Cat Lady who's also positively in love with Ricky Martin
As 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 […]
Read MoreScars are defined as marks left on the skin or within body tissue where fibrous connective tissue develops to support and bind as a wound heals. Scars can fade, be covered up or even be surgically altered, but they can never go away. Scars remain. Scars remember. And everyone has at least one. * I […]
Read MoreDear Ricky, I am 50 years old today. Certified gold. And in honor of that, I was hoping to maybe get a personal birthday shout-out. Just like that gorgeous commercial made several years back where you sang “Happy birthday.” The one I posted from YouTube to my Facebook wall this morning. Maybe you could do […]
Read MoreLately, I just can’t shake this dull, overwhelming sadness that has attached itself to me. Like some annoying, intractable specter hanging about. Losing my loved ones. Impending doom. The fear of death and the unknown. Grief for what is yet to come. The thoughts cloud my brain, tugging at happiness. They beg for attention. Stop […]
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