Saturday was a damp, grey day, certainly not the kind of day which inspires a 100 mile road trip. But, the plans had been made and downstate friends and I were meeting at my brother’s new house to celebrate his recent birthday. “House” is a bit of a misnomer in this case because where my … Continue reading (Re)Creating (dis)Comfort
Category: girlhood
Picture this
It’s 1978. I’m in 6th grade and it’s picture day at school. My hair, freshly combed with the black, plastic pocket comb all students received, was long and straight. I wore a sage green smock top and my face was bare. Make-up was unheard of then for elementary grade students. I looked completely and utterly like … Continue reading Picture this
Rex Ogle is my spirit animal
When I first encountered the book Free Lunch, I never imagined the slim volume relating the author’s experiences as a sixth grade student in Texas would revive so many of my own elementary feelings, if not experiences. In the work, published in 2019 and awarded the ALA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction medal, Ogle shares … Continue reading Rex Ogle is my spirit animal
Weekend headlines
If my weekend had been a newspaper, perhaps even the local one from my childhood hometown, The Greenwood Lake News, I imagine it might look a little like what you’re about to read below. For the record, it was an exceptional edition. Automotive How I learned to stop - or, no more rolling stops. Many, … Continue reading Weekend headlines
Control freak
Trigger warning: If you struggle with an eating disorder or body image issues, skip this post, please.) How do you respond to uncertainty or unexpected challenges? Are you inclined to yield to the universe and roll with it or do you instead try to grasp what you can and refuse to let go? I think … Continue reading Control freak
Rolling in the deep
Image: https://crfirst.org Interrupting my west coast road trip for some deep thinking and looking for a little input, friends. At a time in my life when I can almost taste what might come next, I’m thinking about thinking. Specifically, how do I process the things I am exposed to - experiences, culture, different philosophies, opinions, … Continue reading Rolling in the deep
Questioning Independence
Simply stated, I was raised to be independent. From the alarm clock I received for my 6th birthday, a gift which communicated that I was to get myself up and to school without my mother’s help, to the lack of parental involvement when I crashed and burned academically in high school, I knew I was … Continue reading Questioning Independence