I have retired from waitressing; folded my apron for good this time. I never wanted to go back to it, but even still, I did. Last August I cried to my girlfriend as I told her I was going back to the Johnny's, that I wouldn't see her on the weekends any more. I did... Continue Reading →
Q119 songs
I keep making these posts because I keep marveling about how songs make up playlists that remind me of a particular time. I keep these playlists as a sensory journal. Every time I set foot in a high school, I remember high school. There is a smell they all share: sweat and industrial cleaner and... Continue Reading →
this clutch of students
For the last year and a half, I have coached a slam poetry team. I was offered the job the same day I moved into my first apartment after marriage. This job was all I could manage while I finished up grad school. It was just a couple hours one afternoon a week and I... Continue Reading →
the admin of writing
The thing about writing is it isn't just sitting here when I feel creative and transforming my thoughts into words in a Word doc. If only it was just that. Also, there is this matter of publishing. Tom Williams said, "So long as our words remain private to us, they are incomplete and inert. Power... Continue Reading →
beating the badness
Holden, lately, has been so good. Translation: obedient rather than defiant. He has never been an easy kid. He talks back constantly, throws fits, refuses to participate in kid things, whines, tries to barter every time he's given a command. To say it's hard to parent him is a massive understatement. But something in him... Continue Reading →
heart-shaped eyes
At my son's elementary school, they cut sheets of tissue paper into pieces. Brandon, glad to have me in this part of his life we don't usually share, holds heart-patterned tissue paper over his eyes, looks at me like an emoji. I have brought an apple at Brandon's request and I pull it from my... Continue Reading →
arcade jackpot
Yesterday I took the boys to Dave & Buster's which in the past has not been my jam. The lights and sounds and kids screaming--I am overstimulated and tired at the thought. But a couple weeks ago we all went to an arcade together and it was fun to see them play games and try... Continue Reading →
stalling in ravines against snowbanks
January in Nebraska is like this: Between the cars, on the yellow painted lines in the parking lot, snow melted to slush and then froze into ice and there are slick stripes, perilous patches to avoid while loading and unloading your children from the car again and again. The windiest day of the week coincides... Continue Reading →
favorite books of 2018
2018 was my first year to pick my own reading materials for awhile and I found myself caught in the headlights, unsure of where to start. So, of course, I took recommendations from my writer friends and perused the library and googled top picks within genres and ended up liking these ones best: 1. Fun... Continue Reading →
