Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com You can read my young adult, supernatural thriller, 27, chapter by chapter as I write it at 27. The novel opens in Venice Beach, California, with a young woman named Josie who has an unusual talent: when she sings, otherworldly things happen around her. She usually sings to the …
Interested in #freebritney? You should know Frances Farmer.
Frances Farmer in 1938, courtesy Wikipedia Britney Spears is one of the most successful pop stars of her generation. But unlike her contemporaries Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, Spears has been locked in a bizarre conservatorship for the last 13 years. Fans around the world have rallied behind a trending hashtag, #freebritney, in an effort …
Continue reading Interested in #freebritney? You should know Frances Farmer.
Ode to my Favorite Bars
I miss bars Not breweries Not "tap rooms" Not "gastro pubs" I miss bars Dark and dank (Deadwood) A "hole in the wall" they call it in the Midwest (Yacht Club) Worn-in seats (Foxhead) The smell of old, cheap, beer-stained carpet (Billy Joe's) The retro spinning carousel of horses on an ancient, dusty Budweiser display …
Burnout is officially a “syndrome.” What comes next?
The results of chronic stress in the workplace have been getting a lot of attention this week. First, we learned that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially redefined the term "burnout" as a "syndrome" resulting from chronic workplace stress in their handbook of diseases. Despite some reporting, the WHO previously included burnout in their handbook …
Continue reading Burnout is officially a “syndrome.” What comes next?
27: Chapter 1
“You’re my good luck charm, little girl,” he tells me. “Your voice breaks open a window to heaven.” “Don’t call me a little girl,” I say in a mock-tough voice that’s barely hiding sarcasm. I pull the serape I grabbed from the back of his beat-up truck around my shoulders. The itchy material protects my …
A Mountainous Hike is Life
My husband and I took a hike together. And it became a metaphor for the way we live our lives together. We started out in a familiar area but on an unknown path. We made educated guesses on what the terrain would be like and hoped that our trek would end in a view on …
27: Chapter 2
Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com “I’ll take a grande, quad, nonfat, one-pump, no-whip, mocha,” the pretty professional lady says to me without looking up from her phone. She’s particularly fancy with a silky white blouse tucked into a hot pink pencil skirt. The color of her long acrylic nails match the skirt. “No problem,” …
27: Chapter 3
Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com I did it. I finally made my decision. When I was helping Gary set up his exhibition at 18th Street Arts earlier this afternoon, it hit me right in the center of my chest: I’m singing tonight. I’ve been fretting over this decision for the last week. Ever since …
27: Chapter 4
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com My unwelcome passenger has been sitting next to me since Ocean Park and 23rd. Sitting next to me in Gary’s light blue pick-up truck as I drive home. He could’ve been there longer than 23rd Street but that’s when I first noticed him. I jumped and swerved when I first …
27: Chapter 5
Photo by Jason Toevs on Pexels.com I’m really hurt this time. “This time,” I mean since the second time that man ran into me. Or melted into me. I don’t know where he went. It’s been a week since he punched me in the stomach in my kitchen and disappeared. I’ve been so sick I’ve …
