Sitting in the living room I rearranged over the weekend, enjoying the the new energy the room still has, facing the window with the blinds open, at my table in the corner with my moleskin and a felt-tipped pen. Felt-tipped pens are perfect for certain writing. They’re not fast, but my handwriting is lovely when … Read more
It’s easy to see the bad parts of 2020. They’re on the news, they’re in articles, they’re in memes, they’re showing up in expected and unexpected places in our lives. For the overwhelming majority of us, there were good parts to 2020 as well, even if some of them are double-edged. For example, both of … Read more
Tomorrow (and every day, but for now—tomorrow), I invite you to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is a word that has lost meaning because it’s used so much nowadays, but we are not, on the whole, even mediocre at it. Yet. If you’re enjoying a meal full of your favorite foods tomorrow (or any day), instead of … Read more
Lucky number 13! Thirteen years ago, I started my cancer journey (though the diagnosis didn’t come for another week or so). It changed everything and it changed nothing. It was not a blessing in disguise. It didn’t “happen for a reason” (except for whatever the biological root causes were … for which science has guesses … Read more
It was a long, rectangular room, with posh reclining chairs lining three walls and turning the corners on the fourth. The remaining space had a counter with cabinets and maybe a sink behind it. I don’t remember more detail than that. Except that attached to the front side of the counter was a small Liberty … Read more
The summer before I left for college, one of my aunts took me out for lunch. Part of her message to me that day was: things don’t always go according to plan. Plan accordingly. Somewhere in her early 20s, a year-ish after she was first married, her husband died. Brain tumor, maybe? I don’t remember … Read more
Thanksgiving. Natural disasters. Christmas. Man-made disasters. Toys. Food. Clothes. Household items. Socks. Diapers. Toiletries. There are always people in need. There are times when, as an outsider, it seems more dire. And so, we have stuff drives. My request to you—and it’s definitely not an original to me—is to be mindful with your donations. The … Read more
On the freeway the other night, I saw a car fire on the opposite side. The freeway is flat and straight. The sun had long since set. The flames were visible from quite a distance. An SUV was engulfed in flames. Police were on the scene. People who had presumably been riding in the SUV … Read more
Teaching has some qualities about it that are unique. Today—for better or worse, as with every year before—was one of those unique-to-teaching days. The kids left. They’re not coming back until July. (We’re on a modified year-round calendar in my district.) The oldest ones aren’t coming back at all. Every year, the clock starts on … Read more
When I moved to Arizona 16 years ago, I was a pretty conservative food consumer. I didn’t eat many foreign foods (Americanized or not). Some Polish (see: weird last name heritage), some Italian (see: married to the Pole), Chinese as long as it came in one of those highly-recognizable paper boxes. Tacos. In grad school, … Read more