When my kids were small, the mail would come, somebody would open it, and there would be a pretend credit card glued to a letter from a bank.  They looked like real cards, but they were usually cardboard, the name on it said Jane Doe, and the account number was 123… Read full post »

No, nobody got hurt. 

It's a global art project I took part in yesterday and it was fantastic.  And it's really big.

I waited in line for two and a half hours to get my photo taken in a black and white truck.  Now, I have a 3'… Read full post »

Coming home from work just now, and please allow me to emphasize the word "work," I found myself crossing the street just behind a neighbor from my building.  We are fairly new to the building, so I only know a handful of people and next to no names but this particular… Read full post »

I hate flying with stopovers.  I want to fly once in a day, not twice.  I want to get from Point A to Point B, period.  Don't try to amuse me with sprints through airport concourses and endless kiosks selling those dumb fuzzy neck pillows.  I am… Read full post »

“Oh, look, there’s the Limited bus now.  Shoot, I really wanted to pick up a donut.  Oh well.  Give me a second.”

“Excuse me, I’m sorry. Pardon me.”

“OK, where was I?  How are you?  I know, it was raining when I left my house, too.&n… Read full post »

How can you not love the word “toggle?”  It has that wonderful rocking motion to it, as if the activity of toggling was somehow calming.  In fact, I have learned that toggling, the very worst kind of E-multitasking, is anything but calming.  It’s definitely addicti… Read full post »

This week's prompt:  Write a story that begins with the line: "There's something about this boy."

“There's something about this boy, Kyle, the new boy?  I can’t put my finger on it, Tom, it’s the craziest thing.  I’ve been a teacher for 23 years and I just can&… Read full post »

Spring is a sketchy business where I come from.  It comes and goes with the day, one day warm, one day cool again, like a boat trying to right itself in choppy water.  Then you can wake up on some random Tuesday and not even see that the boat is under… Read full post »

I take lots of buses in New York.  I have always preferred buses to trains and I try to make sure I have a book or a few sale catalogs to read while I go from Point A to Point B.  Buses have come a long/… Read full post »

Prompt: write a flash fiction story (500 words or less)

“Miss, you're next.”

Maddy stepped up and set her purse on the floor next to the industrial sized scale.  She handed her meeting card to the perky blonde standing next to the greeters' table and slipped out of her… Read full post »

Sunset toned gemstones simmering in a quilted velvet box,

Grab them up, scatter them about, free them,

Try them on, wear them out, but they look back at you.

They know they belonged to her.

Amber, cerulean, mauve trinkets, a chief’s ransom,

Holding… Read full post »

My grandmother's grandfather James was a newspaper man in Northern Ireland. He must have been a real character because he also ran a printing business, he booked steamship passages to New Zealand, he sold tea and stationery, and for a while in the mid 1850s, he was the postmaster of the… Read full post »

Date:  March 1, 2013

Re: Next faculty meeting
To:  Professors Harris, Irving, Chase, Salem, Heritage
     CC: Professor Schmidt, Chair
From:  Kathy Buchanan, Department Manager

Dear Faculty:

Profess… Read full post »

There was a fight on my bus a few days ago.  A woman in her late teens was in the front with a boy who was two years old at the most.  He was crying when I got on near her and she looked distracted, the way you look when you… Read full post »

When I was little, we used to go to my mother's family on Sundays.  Most days, we'd have roast beef with my grandfather's famous mashed potatoes.  But sometimes, when nobody wanted to cook or we had cousins coming over, we'd go to Colonel Sanders for a bucket of fried chicken and… Read full post »

Today, Pope Benedict XVI leaves office.  He has the sweetest retirement deal on the planet and the comfort of becoming fallible again.  One can only imagine the burden in knowing that in all official decrees, you cannot make a mistake.  Now, he can screw things up with the best of them… Read full post »

I like to write because the process of committing words to paper gives me the freedom to capture my thoughts.  Did you get that?  Probably not.  My trusty butterfly net with which I capture my thoughts and spin them into narrative is full of celestial holes lately.  I'm not gettin… Read full post »

I changed buses this morning in front of the Twin Donut Shop, same as always, hopping off the first bus just in time to make the second for my ride to work.  I paid the fare, took a seat on the right not too far from the driver,  and found myself… Read full post »

Great, Lent's coming up next week.  I get uncomfortable just thinking of all those cheery folks who hunker down like the groundhog, waiting for the end of 40 days and 40 nights.  And don't get me started on ashes on my forehead.  I did that a couple of times and it… Read full post »