Years ago, I was young, newly divorced and living alone in a "transitional" neighborhood in East Dallas.  Two small neighborhood streets behind my house ran a major large street; right behind that were some pretty tough Dallas projects.  

Up four blocks from my house was another main road l… Read full post »

The first election I remember was when Jimmy Carter was elected President.  My parents, both Southern Baptists, and both avid followers of news and events, were probably as excited by his outsider campaign for President as I would be about Barack Obama’s election decades/… Read full post »

The other day, I had a very frustrating Facebook dialogue with an old friend.  She had posted about the President’s proposal that contraceptives be classified as preventive medicine and included without a co-pay in employer-provided benefit plans.  She was absolut… Read full post »

One of my favorite television shows this season is "Once Upon a Time".  Go ahead, snicker - a forty-five year old woman hooked on what is essentially a fairy tale compendium turned inside out is kind of ridiculous, I give you that.  But it's escapist viewing at it… Read full post »

Most of you probably know Midland-Odessa Texas as the location of the popular gridiron television series “Friday Night Lights”.  Or perhaps as the home of George W. Bush.  A few of you might even watch the TruTV show “Black Gold”. 

Unless you are… Read full post »

Have you ever had a vaginal ultra sound?  Well, I have, and while it didn’t come close to ranking number one on the top ten scale of painful-things-doctors-have-done–to-me, it was decidedly not a pleasant experience.  For my purposes – letting the doct… Read full post »

Branches trace hard sky

Chimes echo winter's sly breeze

 Birds with writ murder Read full post »

Vegan.  It conjures up mental images of tall, lanky people with dreadlocks in earnest earth-tone hemp clothing, doesn’t it?  Or a deranged PETA protester throwing paint on some dowager’s prized fur coat.  Or perhaps the dour acquaintance with the pinche… Read full post »

In my mind, there are two versions of The Corporation. 

One is a black-and-white version generated by childhood viewing of 1950’s and 1960’s television re-runs.  In this version of the The Corporation, men go off to work every morning, wearing a hat and carrying a briefcase or/… Read full post »

It's a pretty typical neighborhood pizza joint:  green, white and red signs out front, an Italian-American owner who remembers all the kids and never fails to greet them with a hearty "Hey paesan!", Italian Chef murals framed by trellises adorned with plastic grapevines and the abs… Read full post »

In 1976 when I was in 2nd grade, the man in the red suit still reigned supreme over Christmas in my fevered eight year old imagination.  After all, we didn't attend church, so Christmas as the birthday of Christ was just a fuzzy conceptual nicety, resulting in Andy Williams… Read full post »

Early this morning, while it was still dark outside, my small family made the trip to our friendly local emergency room. As emergencies go, this one was sort of small-scale: no one was dying, there wasn't any blood, and the patient (my husband) is resting at home now after a… Read full post »

Kids are brilliant. Without any formal political training, without attending any Ivy League colleges and without even consulting Wikipedia, they instinctively take advantage of a cutting edge debate-changing tool known as the "Overton Window".

Next time your children ask for something utterly ludicrou… Read full post »

 ^{Photo from Wikipedia.}

For generations, the collective character of the United States has drawn from the strengths and traditions of many identities, while still somehow being uniquely “American”. 

Today's American culture is one of a developing tribalism; some o… Read full post »

The beads from a Kenyan market lie heavy and comforting against my chest, armoring my business-casual self with a stylish worldliness.  As they swish back and forth against my curls during my over-animated staff meeting arm gestures, the camel bone earrings with their tiny bronze… Read full post »

I wasn’t at the funeral, but I can picture them - the small boy of five and his sister, age 2 - sitting in the pew, in befuddled little-kid pain, begging for their mother.  

Diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer right after… Read full post »

As I’ve written here before, I am a teacher’s daughter.  Raised by two public school teachers, educated in the public schools, I have always firmly resisted the idea of sending any child of mine to a private school.  To me, private schools undermine the very idea of an… Read full post »

I didn't mean to quit.  I really didn't.  And now that I have quit, I need to know how to begin again.  I crave the desire to start again.  I can't see any other cure for my anxiety, my ill temper or my burgeoning need to eat every carbohydrate that crosses… Read full post »

My city: 209,000 people - median age, 29.5, median income $31k. Evenly divided male/female. A whopping 73% white. Voted 31% for Obama, 68% for McCain. Just to set the stage...so you know where I come from...whacko-world, if you will...

That 68%… Read full post »

What's most interesting about the Anthony Weiner photo and sexting
 scandal is not what was said, photographed and sent. It's not who
exposed the scandal. And it’s certainly not the warped psychology of
a vain man who risked everything for a dubious secret pleasure. It’s
the way so… Read full post »

We are in the process of moving, which is the worst torture ever devised for pack rat-human hybrids.  The list of things that I should throw out but simply don't want to is legion.  Dried roses from my first wedding anniversay, now 15 years old and crumbling with age.  Candles of… Read full post »

Trolls are out in force commenting on the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan; a distinct sub-set of opinion holds that the Japanese had it coming and should pay the consequences on their own.  Some blame Japanese conduct in WWII, reminding us of the Bataan Death March, a memorial march for… Read full post »

Abortion rights have never been a real-life personal dilemma for me; I am pro-choice philosophically, but have no life experiences with which to support my position. 

Practically speaking, banning a procedure that's been performed since there were women is  only going to force it undergrou… Read full post »

My father was a public servant for most of his working life. After high school, he entered the Air Force and became an airman on a giant cargo plane; following his hitch, he went on to train as a teacher.  A small-town boy from a poor depression-era Texas Panhandle family, Dad has… Read full post »