Poet Reporter
A different kind of reporting, through the eyes of a poet.
Permanent Record Card
I ran into one of my high school teachers this weekend. Mr. E. was selling his books at the same event where I was selling mine. He introduced himself and I recognized his name, so we talked and caught up for a few minutes…
Placemat on a Dinosaur
Growing up, when my extended family got together we got into fights. We’d gather, set potluck dishes anywhere they’d fit, maybe even watch a little of the holiday parade on TV while we waited for everyone to show up. Then we’d line up to fill out plates and settle at various tables. And sometime before the end of dinner…
Frosting Face
The craft show atmosphere is a lot like an airport at Christmas time. There’s a lot of baggage and hustle and bustle, and big personalities that squabble over small things and quiet people who absorb it all with a pen in hand…
The Pilot’s Gamble: How It Ends
A man about my age overhears my arrangements and approaches. “You were on the Minneapolis flight that was cancelled? Me too. I’m renting a car from Wisconsin if you’d like to ride with me.”
I counter…
The Pilot’s Gamble: How It Starts
Here’s a story for you, about a flight I took from Pittsburgh to Rochester (Minnesota) that connected through Chicago. (As always, this was years ago. Years from now, I’ll tell stories from today. And I’ll still say, “Years ago…”)
Anyway, the story…
Crazy Eights
One night back when I was waiting tables, a couple came in with their newborn baby and then the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins all started arriving and we had this big table full of family that took up an entire quarter of the dining room. I say “we” because I was right there with them…
The Good China
A friend once told me a story about finally getting the kids down for a nap one day just as the doorbell rang. In the driveway, she saw her best friend’s car. She looked around at her messy house, with laundry and life’s debris everywhere…
Blue and Green Marble
It’s been a hard week, regardless of what news channel you watch. This weekend I stumbled upon a Superman movie on TV, one of the newer versions. At first I wasn’t sure what I was watching; I walked into the room and the movie was in full swing. So I watched for a bit and when I left the room I did so with a head full of heroes and heroic deeds.
My thoughts brought to mind a scene from Upside Down Kingdom…
Stacking Up
Labor Day is not just the unofficial start of fall, the last of our lazy summer season before schoolwork and job work kick into high gear. Labor Day is set aside to honor the contributions of the ongoing labor movement to standards, wages, and safety in our workplaces. It’s a day that honors all laborers and the achievements we’ve made with our work…
You to You
I’ve told you about a writing retreat I was on years ago with writer Emily Hanlon. Here’s a story from that retreat.
There were about twenty of us women, from all over the U.S., and all ages, staying in an abbey house in a little village in England and we could explore the village during our free time…
Target Practice
I assume everyone has a calling. Some have more than one. It doesn’t have to be something we’re good at. And it doesn’t have to be flashy.
When your dream is your own, it’s worth going after. No one else is going to see it the way that you do and they’re not going to do it for you…
Raising Spirits
If an old job of yours had a reunion, would you go?
I was just telling my mom that class reunions are fine and all and all but what we really need is a reunion of our favorite jobs. (Not like a company picnic, unless the picnic had spiked punch and knife-throwing contests.) …
Ten Percent
In any group setting you can make friends with some people as if you’ve known each other forever. You just immediately click and can finish each other’s sentences and laugh at the same situations with just a look. And then there are those in the very same group you avoid like the plague because they’re needy, dramatic, fussy--you know the type…
Flipping the Script
Like most kids, I grew up wanting to be the smartest, most interesting, and most sought-after person in the room. I lived a lot of my childhood in this mindset. The spotlight was something to strive for, a secret desire propelling me forward…