PODCAST-IRRESPONSIBLY GROWN POTATOES 0:00 / 0:00 Irresponsibly Grown Potatoes Recently, as I walked through the produce section of a grocery store, I passed a sign that said, “Responsibly Grown Potatoes.” Naturally, I began to imagine “Irresponsibly Grown Potatoes.” Would they be grown by a chain-smoking farmer, one who flicks his carcinogenic ashes on the crop? […]
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PODCAST-WHEN TO CARE AND WHEN NOT TO Photo Courtesy of Omar Salom 0:00 / 0:00 When to Care and When Not To (This essay originally appeared in Brevity.) My vocation is writing, but my avocation is painting, mostly portraits. I belong to a Facebook group dedicated to showing the work of artists who are trying to
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PODCAST-MY LIFE IN CARS My father gave me my first car, a 1965 Ford Fairlane. Although I had my driver’s license, I didn’t know out how to back up, park, or merge. To be honest, I couldn’t even start the car. I’d always flood the engine. How did I get a license? The day of
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PODCAST-WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER Photo Courtesy of Ryan Ledbetter-Unsplash 0:00 / 0:00 We Are All In It Together One morning, as I drove down a narrow country lane in Charlottesville, I spotted an African-American child, about eleven, perched on a small pink bike. He sat in the middle of the road, precisely at
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PODCAST-GANGSTER GRANNY Photo Courtesy of Pexels 0:00 / 0:00 Gangster Granny GANGSTER GRANNY first appeared in Medium. One morning, I wake up to an accusatory and largely inaccurate email. I haven’t recovered from that smackdown when I’m on the phone negotiating with a healthcare provider on behalf of my elderly mother. The “provider” gaslights me
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PODCAST-MAISON MAGIQUE Photo Courtesy of M.J. Tangonan 0:00 / 0:00 Maison Magique MAISON MAGIQUE was published in Streetlight in April 2024. I have a five-year-old grandchild who lives in Paris. Recently, she informed me that when she plays tag at her schoolyard, to avoid becoming “it,” all she must do is scurry to a
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PODCAST-THE DAY THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED ON MY CAFETERIA WALL Photo Courtesy of Gaetano Cessati 0:00 / 0:00 The Day the Virgin Mary Appeared on My Cafeteria Wall The Day the Virgin Mary Appeared on My Cafeteria Wall was first published in the Blue Ridge Anthology: Poetry and Prose of Central Virginia Writers, 2010.
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This essay won first prize in the Golden Nib for non-fiction and just appeared in the 2023 edition of The Golden Nib, an anthology of the work of Virginia writers. 0:00 / 0:00 Love Is Blind-ish Last winter, we bought a car that came with many safety features, including a blind spot monitor. Unfortunately,
Our House in the Cornfield 0:00 / 0:00 Life on Aspinook (First published in The Blue Nib Journal. Re-printed with permission.) For four years, I lived in a little white Cape Cod perched atop a bluff above Johnson’s Cove on Aspinook Pond, a small body of water that spilled out of the Quinnebaug River.
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DEAR SANTA 0:00 / 0:00 Dear Santa Dear Santa: As you might remember, when I was seven, all I wanted for Christmas was a live horse and a real gun. I envisioned myself patrolling our neighborhood, on the lookout for bad guys. I didn’t intend to shoot the bad guys, only brandish my firearm, telling
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