Our stories for December 2021 are… “The Dead,” by James Joyce (1914) and “The Husband Stitch,” by Carmen Maria Machado (2014) and “Sweat,” by Zora Neale Hurston (1926). We meet online each month the discuss the titles. In December, we’ll get together on the 12th. Reply to this post if you’d like to join, or…
My Doula Was Four Years Old
Two years ago I am 39 1/2 weeks pregnant and my daughter becomes a four-year-old doula by mistake. On this date in 2019, I wake up around 3:00 in the morning on a Friday. I use the bathroom. No one else is supposed to be awake at this point in the morning, but my daughter…
The Never Enough
My at-home indoor workout the other day was interrupted after 20 minutes when my toddler woke from his 25-minute-long nap (if you can call it that), and I dragged him out of his crib, careful to engage my pelvic floor that has been destroyed thanks to my getting the “You should do pelvic floor physical…
Parenting As Ambition
I have a second grader, a kindergartner and a maniac who is about to turn two. My daughter asked me a couple of days ago if I always wanted to have three kids. I told her I did. She said, “Well congratulations. You got three kids.” I’ve been thinking about this. I heard a woman…
Short Story Club Selections for November 2021
A few of us last night got online together and talked some about the stories “The Tenth of December,” by George Saunders; “Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlines, And No Apology,” by Nafissa Thompson-Spires; and “The Lady with the Toy Dog,” by Anton Chekhov. In November, we’re reading: “The Monkey’s…
Unintentional Bookshelf Decolonization
I was in middle school, maybe, when my mom and I helped re-seed a trail over a small number of indigenous burial mounds that had been worn down by hikers in our nearby state park. I remember distinctly that we and a dozen or so other volunteers formed something of an assembly line that snaked…
But It’s Iowa
We kept the kids home. We un-enrolled from our lives. We ordered little kid masks. We took them out of swimming lessons. We didn’t go to parks for a time. We put up a playset in our yard. And then a pool. And then two other pools, after the first and second ones broke. We…
In Grief: Day 40
Today, I’m in the bright sunshine of my favorite season in my favorite month. I’m digging out some inspiration like it’s the crust around the lid of the yogurt container that needs to come out or damn it my kids will disown me for having to resort to another kind of breakfast; I’m trying, man.…
Death in My Family
On August 25, my nephew was killed in a traffic accident. He was 24 years old. He had just started his second year teaching middle school in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was writing a book about teaching. He was organizing a coat drive to support underprivileged youth in his school. He was happy and…
Another Story Out in September
Last week I got word that another short story of mine will be published in September. This is such great news. This particular story is about the invisibility of motherhood. There is bloodshed. 🙂 Yay! I am reading a lot and writing a lot lately. I’m obsessed with the story “Tenth of December,” by George…