Today’s “no kings” protest in my Woodstock, Georgia, community took place from 2 to 4 p.m. in downtown Woodstock, and demonstrators were encouraged to use the city’s free parking deck. My biggest concern as a reporter for the state’s public broadcasting company, was whether parking would be full because the city’s amphitheater hosted a free concert…
Momster
Shadow people. Favorite people.
6.15.2025 I’m a graduate student of myself. When I saw myself in “I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me,” I started studying borderline personality disorder (BPD). At that time, in the mid-1990s, Marsha Linehan started publishing her dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) created specifically for BPD. The treatment involves skills training and psychotherapy, which is exactly what…
Your dad held back the rain
Your dad would hold back the rain for you. Today, it seems he did. You earned your Certified Driver’s License Friday the 13th ahead of Father’s Day weekend, days after a full moon. Just like your dad would have, you arrived 10 minutes prior to 10 minutes early and parked the Tahoe. After a deep…
November rain in June
I open the heavy glass door that lets in the room-temperature air to the hot sauna. The floor space in front is free so I lay down my white gym towel. I notice a white pair of men’s socks on the edge of the heater. I look to the man on the bench and decide…
Hail to the bus driver
The alarm sings happily, way before it’s time to smile. The sun hasn’t yet lit the sky, and Russell is making coffee and yogurt with granola as I turn off the alarm and roll over. My fancy pillow has the power to cool my head, so I flip it over and hug the pillow with…
Death is a mug’s game
on friendship I don’t like the feel of typing on my phone. I’m sitting in my car in the parking deck at work, typing on my phone, disconnected. Through the fog I can make out Atlanta’s skyline. The air conditioning blasts my shivering hands just the way I like it. It must be quiet in…
Cosplay I said so
I’m waking up for the 17th time since 3:27 a.m. and my cellphone is lighting up with a barrage of texts. I grab my coffee, sit up in bed and look at my screen. I notice that, despite the weather warnings, the sun is fully out though the threat of rain remains all week. I…
She’s gone
I said goodbye today to the first fur baby my husband and I had together. Ani Grey came home with us from the shelter six or so weeks after her Easter Sunday birthday in 2008. Her tiny grey paws stretched for the strings hanging from my skirt and she got her claw stuck. “Oh, kitty,”…
sometimes we start out broken
I gave the egg a chance even though it arrived from the store cracked. I found my plastic slotted spoon – in the wrong kitchen drawer – and looked at the broken egg. When the water boiled, I lowered the white spoon slowly, allowing the egg to ease into the pot like a person entering…
Friendly Faire
On my first day of middle school, I ran around the cafeteria, inhaling the hashbrown aroma, and asking kids for their phone numbers, collecting connections as proof of friendship. I came across as desperate and weird. I didn’t last long in public school. As a married woman with children, I still feel awkward telling someone…