ESSAYS

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...