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-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,
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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FIRST KISS Debby and The Gorilla at High School Play 0:00 / 0:00 First Kiss Names are changed to protect the guilty. My first kiss was planted on me by a seventeen-year-old guy in a gorilla suit. My junior year, our drama club decided to perform Murders in the Rue Morgue. Mrs. Sardi, the
SINKING Photo Courtesy of Stormseeker 0:00 / 0:00 Sinking (Originally published in Streetlight Magazine.) I attended a state university that required you to pass a swim test to graduate. I will not mention the name of the institution because I’m about to malign them. When the orientation materials arrived by snail mail, included