It’s been two weeks since my daughter first complained to me of stomach pain. In the bustle of our family life, I wanted so badly to believe that she simply had the flu, or a stomach bug, like everyone else around us. I had never seen my daughter that ill, and yet it took nearly... Continue Reading →
Less Internet, More Books
I had big plans to spend my residency writing and reading books, but I wrote so much of my own work and sororitized so much with other writers (for they were mostly women), coloring in the lines of time so completely that I didn't even finish one damn book. NOT ONE. I did, however, pick... Continue Reading →
Lessons from the Abyss, from a Woman Who Had Never Been
I’ve been away at a writers’ colony for one week, with one more week left to go. It seems ridiculous to state this next fact out loud: I haven’t been alone in this way, without attachment to anything that is ordinarily in my daily life, for nearly twenty years. How sad, I thought at first... Continue Reading →
Latest Essays
There's a lot of writing going on over here--life tends to offer up rich territory right when you need it. Links below, and thank you for reading! Motherwell Magazine: Learning How to Parent Together After the Marriage is Over At the End of A Family's Difficult Year: Gratitude Washington Post: How Do You Keep A... Continue Reading →
Breeding Empathy, and Activism
In 1989 when I was twelve years old, my mother took my brother, my sister, and me to the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. People stomped around peacefully but angrily on our hometown Mall, its symbol of political liberty suddenly visceral. There were a handful of counter protests, of course. One woman with... Continue Reading →