There is the thing Facebook does - the Memories. I look at it every day, and more often it is an emotionally masochistic act than a warm-fuzzy one. I notice myself doing an unconscious countdown around November. Now that my boyfriend Paulie and I have been together for less-than-six-but-more-than-five years, as the memories get closer... Continue Reading →
How to Get Jobs and Influence People at Happy Hour
40 Days of Writing/Spring 2017/Day 9 I took a day off from boo-hooing about my employment/financial situation because my daughter had the stomach flu, and if you know anything about caring for someone with the stomach flu, you understand that it’s a selfless task. Because the world works in mysterious ways, it was during... Continue Reading →
The Bonfire of My Ego
40 Days of Writing/Spring 2017/Days 2 & 7 Lately I’ve been going through the motions of my life as if I were in a series of scenes in a TV show. Here is a scene of me getting into the car and buckling my seatbelt. Here is a scene of me rolling over in bed, blinking... Continue Reading →
Beach House
40 Days of Writing/Spring 2017/Day 5 Tonight the music rules were No Hamilton and No Queen. First of all: oh hell no. But second of all: okay. My man had spent the day building a new fence and a new chicken coop in the cold driving rain and hail (this is not a fictional dramatized... Continue Reading →
Things My Mother Sent Me: The Last Letter from My Grandma
40 Days of Writing/Spring 2017/Day 4 Dear Mandy. My Grandma Janik called me Mandy. In fact everyone called me Mandy when I was a little girl, until I announced that I wanted to go by Amanda from that point forward. I was still in single digits age-wise, but Grandma never got the memo, and that... Continue Reading →
Inauguration Day
On inauguration day, I sat in my therapist’s office trying to tell him about my feelings. As usual, he patiently listened to me ramble on about everything but, and then interrupted me to tell me “you’re very good at” (I don’t remember what he said), “and you do this in a way which” (I don’t... Continue Reading →
The Gods of Solitaire
I’m pretty sure the gods of telephone solitaire were fucking with me this morning. I imagine their conversation going something like this: God 1: ah jeez she’s playing solitaire in bed again God 2: why doesn’t she get up already and accomplish one of those things she keep saying she’s going to accomplish? God 1:... Continue Reading →
Is Anyone Out There? Can We Talk?
In case you don't know me, or this is your first time here, I'll just start by saying this: I liked Prince. A lot. And I've been one of those annoying people on social media sharing my feelings about his recent death. I think I've been pretty minimal about this sharing in relation to how... Continue Reading →
Little Things That Happened on the Day Prince Died
I found out on Facebook, and didn’t believe it was true. I immediately started doing searches online to make sure I was right. The news started to spread. My phone began to light up with texts: my brother, my cousin, my best friend, my boyfriend’s daughter, a woman I haven’t seen in years, my ex-sister-in-law,... Continue Reading →
Purple Brain
The first time I really sat down to listen to him -I mean really listen, not just sing along to his hits that made their way to the radio - was on a break from K-Mart mopping the dining room floor of Full City Cafe in Kalamazoo. It was the end of the night, all... Continue Reading →
Amanda Janik 