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 →
Made With Care
I have a new hat. It's mine. And I love it. A new friend made it for me, with her own two hands and a couple of knitting needles. When I say 'new friend' I mean that she and I recently met at a dinner party where, in the midst of our conversation she put her hand... Continue Reading →
Help Me Help You Help My Hair. And my Home. And, you know, the Earth.
This post is purely for my own informational purposes, but it's possible that some of my questions are also your questions; perhaps together we can get some answers. I'm talking about saving the planet and whatnot here. I recently read an article by Santa Rosa's leading acupuncturist (and all-around inspiring woman) Lorelle Saxena, about making small... Continue Reading →
Politics at Large
I generally try to stay quiet about politics in any sort of public format, for no other reason than to avoid the crazies. So many people feel the need to shout about why their candidate of choice is the best, why yours is the worst, and why I’m a horrible person who deserves to have her... Continue Reading →