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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HAZEL MOON-A SHORT STORY Photo Courtesy of Altinay Dinc 0:00 / 0:00 Hazel Moon One blistering hot day in June, eleven-year-old Hazel found herself waiting on the sagging front porch of her Grammy Moon’s ramshackle rambler. She’d never met the old woman. Furthermore, she hadn’t even known she had a grandmother until the week before
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PODCAST-HOW TO PICK UP A CHICKEN Photo Courtesy of Sahand Balabi 0:00 / 0:00 Picking Up a Chicken Picking up a live chicken requires a certain amount of intestinal fortitude, intestinal fortitude that everyone in my family lacks. And yet that doesn’t mean some of us aren’t good with animals. My son Ian is
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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,
AMERICAN SYMPHONYMOVIE REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 American Symphony If you can watch American Symphony without crying at least once, then you might need to have your tear glands checked. The documentary is about musician, Jon Batiste, and his wife, Suleika, a bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning journalist. Around the same time Batiste decides to compose a symphony
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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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PODCASTBENEDETTA’S LENTILS 0:00 / 0:00 Benedetta's Lentils Benedetta, my grandmother, made the best lentil soup, food that warmed body and soul on many a cold winter evening. She’d send it home with us in a Mason jar, frequently accompanied by a delicious loaf of bread. As hard as I’ve tried, I’ve never been able to
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SAFETY, ITALIAN STYLE 0:00 / 0:00 Safety, Italian Style When I was eighteen, my cousin Giovanni visited us from Italy. I sat in the passenger seat of Giovanni’s rental car as he sped through a red light at a busy intersection. I shrieked, “Stop. Stop. You’ve got to stop!” Giovanni smiled and said,
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