ESSAYS | Gingerpinholster

Inside the Publix Grocery Store in the Time of Anarchy

Author’s Note: The following humor column was written on May 15, 2021, a few days after the CDC eased its mask guidance. The author has...

Southern Belles and Carpet Buzzers

The fearless woman who helped demolish my garage cabinets was crouched on my staircase, painting the walls when I asked if her partner, a...

In Celebration of the Common Riffraff

Looming from her second-floor balcony, the owner confronted me, twitchy as a highlighted chicken. “You weren’t expecting to come inside,...

The Sausage on the Roof

This essay was written while my daughter was still in Nepal: When my boyfriend Mickey first hurled the slice of cooked Italian sausage...

Black Mermaids Matter

Months before the brutal police killing of George Floyd, before the protests when I made a sign saying, “I Can’t Breathe” and "Stop the...

Crossing by Myself

Editor’s Note: I wrote this travelogue-style essay in November 2018, while visiting my daughter Caroline during her service with Peace...

Why I Was Mean - From Eckerd Review

My goal, in this nonfiction essay, was to provide a first-hand report on what Russ Douthat described in The New York Times as the 1970s...

Finding Mom's Gun - from Gravel Magazine

“You need to find her gun and hide it,” my sister mumbled while our mother, propped in a hospital bed, prattled on about finding Bigfoot....

Tagged - from Atticus Review

Based on my partner’s encounter with U.S. Customs officials at Dulles airport, this essay is a romantic exploration of the discrimination...

That Damned Skateboard

At her neck’s nape, the red splotch still lurks, a sunny chick’s fuzz covers the scar of snarling angels, roaring, refusing her newborn...