mental health journalist
Caring for ‘Pops’ gives Vince Zangaro apreview of what his future may hold. By Ellen EldridgeFor the Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionMay 7, 2017Photos by Bita Honarvar Orange juice. That was what Vince Zangaro asked his dad to get from the corner store. Thirty minutes later, Albert called on the verge of tears. He couldn’t remember how to…
Musician Angie Aparo learns life-altering lessons from near-death experience Originally published July 16, 2017, by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A pounding headache woke Angie Aparo early one April morning last year. A bout of nausea followed, sending him to the toilet. The pain was so severe; he was frightened. But he’d had his annual physical just…
Published June 12, 2026, by Narratively I thought my mother-in-law, Gail, would die in prison, denying my kids any real time with their paternal grandmother, and leaving me to have hard conversations with my husband, Russell, about things like the cost of flying a body to Georgia from Florida. Sent away in 2008 at age…
“You get what you pray for if you’re pure of heart,” I joked.
“A route is a predefined path or course taken by transportation vehicles to move goods or services from one location to another, ensuring efficient delivery.” When I was in elementary school, around nine or ten years old, I fell in love with the idea of making money by delivering newspapers. Somehow the idea of cruising the pre-dawn…
I told my kids as soon as they were old enough to access the internet that I would answer any questions they have. “Don’t Google,” I begged. So, when my young daughter disrupted me during one of my work-from-home days, I maintained my cool. I swiveled in my office chair and faced her at the…
“We’re talking about prepositions today,” the professor announces to a classroom full of military students from all branches. I was there as part of Army Reserves Advanced Individual Training or AIT, which is the job training part of entering the Armed Forces. Anyone with a Military Occupational Skill or MOS relating to communications attended the…
So, dear reader(s) I have decided to make this a flash essay blog where I will share a story every Friday related to parenting, and offer a sort of Dear Abby advice column. This should be fun. I am playing with calling it “Parenting on the borderline” or something similarly witty. Friday January 9, 2026…
“Hello?” “Hi, this is Ellen, Margie’s daughter,” I tell the people in Mom’s address book on the phone. The teachers in my elementary school decorated the social studies teacher’s classroom for his milestone birthday, hanging colorful banners that said, “Lordy, Lordy, Jim Rondash is Forty.” Learning his first name delights me as much as witnessing…
Tracing the path of scar tissue in my veins, faintly visible through the skin, with the pad of my index finger hurts like pressing on a bruise I can’t see. Clumps of cartilage balled like rubber cement. The meaty parts of both hands are swollen from pulling my thumbs away from my wrists so that…