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Published on Leave a comment on Unznheimer Ike of Willow Creek

Guard dog and guard dad 2

I had a harrowing event occur on my way home tonight and it led to an unexpected memory. I was running late, anxious to get home, and headed down the last mile of our dirt road. As I rounded the last bend, I saw two dogs in the road- one big, one little. Neither moved; and as I was going too fast (as usual), it took some effort to get slowed down.

Meanwhile the dogs weren't moving- at all.

Then I realize it is one big dog and one very little person, a toddler- leaning on his riding toy like an elderly person using a walker. ...continue reading "Unznheimer Ike of Willow Creek"

Published on Leave a comment on Dreaded Question: Reader’s Stories

This week, I'm working on a short story.

In anticipation of my main character's struggle, I'm asking my readers to share their own story from the theme: What question do you dread being asked? ...continue reading "Dreaded Question: Reader’s Stories"

Published on Leave a comment on Elsewhere, by Richard Russo – Review and Personal Reflection

You know this ain't love
No, this ain't love
(What is it then?) It's desperation

Eminem, Desperation (featuring Jamie N Commons), The Marshall Mathers LP2

Now that I'm writing again outside of work, I find my reading tastes are, once again, leaning more literary and less 'brain candy'.

Yesterday, I started a memoir by one of my favorite authors, Richard Russo. At three a.m. this morning I made myself put it down; and then devoured the rest when I woke up. The U.S. release of the book is titled Elsewhere. ...continue reading "Elsewhere, by Richard Russo – Review and Personal Reflection"

Published on Leave a comment on So You Wanna Be a Writer…

Writer's Roots

I have had a life-long relationship with writing, that has been by turns euphoric, heart-breaking, tedious, enlightening, discouraging, and profitable- but continually unexpected. ...continue reading "So You Wanna Be a Writer…"

Published on Leave a comment on Three Things I Learned from Being in an Emergency

Two weeks ago I wrote an article detailing the night I broke my back in a fall from my school's roof. An odd thing happened one week later. A crew of window cleaners were suspended by ropes outside my office window and one of them fell 50 feet to the ground. ...continue reading "Three Things I Learned from Being in an Emergency"

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Published on 1 Comment on For Such a Time as This

"And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"
Esther 4:14, New American Standard Bible

I am prone to minor obsessions. If I find a book, movie, show, or topic that alights my imagination, I tend to think about, dream about it, have imaginary conversations about it, and then inexplicably, I move on.

My latest minor obsession is George Washington's Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring. ...continue reading "For Such a Time as This"

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Published on 2 Comments on Legend of My Fall

“If you were to rush into this room right now
and announce that you had struck a deal
with God, Allah, Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Bill Gates, whomever–in which the ten years since my diagnosis could be magically taken away, in for ten more years as the person I was before–
I would, without a moment's hesitation, tell you to take a hike.”
Michael J. Fox, Lucky Man: A Memoir

We all wear multiple titles under our name: what we do for a living, who we are in our family and among our friends, our hobbies, accomplishments, and many other factors. In 1999, I gained two new and unwelcome monikers—“the teacher who fell off the roof of the school” and “incomplete paraplegic”. ...continue reading "Legend of My Fall"