Poet Reporter
A different kind of reporting, through the eyes of a poet.
Life Lessons from Winker Barbie
“I liked your Barbie poem last night,” says my friend and fellow poet, Chris, on the phone last Monday, after I’d delivered a new poem Sunday night at The Drank Idiom Slam competition in Rochester…
Mountain & Sea, Part Three: The Pull and Call
Italy has a way of encompassing you, like the bosomy hug from your favorite aunt, the one who let you speak freely, made the best cookies, and always told you that you could run away to her at any time…
Little Miss T and the Spider
Just in time for Halloween, Little Miss T, one of my Sunday School students, approaches me in class this week. Quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear her, she whispers, “Miss Jody…
Ponding Water
My fellow Pittsburghers will know what I’m talking about…I got a message a couple days ago from a friend who was traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike…
Mountain & Sea, Part Two: Nooks & Crannies
I’m dipping my toes in the Mediterranean this morning. I wish I had some bread and some tea to really hit the spot after the trek down here. I took some side “streets” and pathways…
Mountain & Sea, Part One: The Hike
My teacup and I reminisced over my travel journals: There are five towns here, all built into the mountainside along the Mediterranean shore…
Feeling September 11
Excerpt from Upside Down Kingdom:
“…We had the radio, and its constant updates. Even though they were reporting rogue plane sightings overhead that we couldn’t see, at least there were voices giving us information…”
Restaurantland's Weird Herd
Money is a sensitive issue, outside of a restaurant, that is. But in the world of restaurants, the whole mentality about money is different…
Thought #7
I’ve been assigned an editor for one of my writing projects. My first thought: “Wow! They think I’m important enough to have an editor!” My second thought: “Hey! They think I stink and I need an editor!”
Short Story Contest: John Baker
My friend Patrick emailed me on a Sunday a few weeks ago and said he'd just come across an NPR writing contest, and that the deadline was midnight, Eastern Time…
Eyes Closed
Friday, June 7, I read for Cracked Walnut at The Salon in Rochester. I’d been racking my brain on what to read, pretty much since the invitation to speak arrived weeks ago…
The Welcome Door
As my Facebook friends know, last night I posted this: “I’m on church vestry. It’s like Congress, and just as methodical and slow-moving. Tonight, however, we ‘DMC-fast-tracked*’ the same sex marriage issue…”
The Curious Thing
As we wind down the Sunday School year and practice for this year’s finale, I’m reminded of last year where my second and third grade class acted out Moses parting the Red Sea in front of the parish parents…