“Hit my brakes, out slid Skittles“ – Sir Mix-A-Lot, My Hooptie, 1989 My car has a small piece of a wire hanger sticking out of its front grille that serves as a pull for the latch that opens the hood. My car is a metallic champagne 1988 Merecedes Benz 300E. Legend has it that the original owner of this car was the professional basketball player Detlef Shrempf of […]
Monthly Archives: January 2012
There are times when a mama just has to suck it up and do something terribly painful in the name of love. Peeling myself out of my warm, cozy bed at 4:39 in the morning in the middle of winter to drive a surly teenager to swim team practice on the other side of town is one such time […]
I once heard my friend’s teen daughter call her a “life-ruiner” for disallowing her to wear a certain inappropriate outfit to a party she was attending. Wow! A “life-ruiner”. Impressive. If I had a nickel for every time my first child said “I hate you” as a young teenager, I could buy myself a super fancy pair of ear plugs to wear […]
I thought I would have a little fun at my own expense on the subject of my various childhood hair arrangements. I’m afraid I’ll have to drag my sister into this one too. This fun will also be had at the expense of my parents which is just fine with me. I hold them partially responsible for these “hairdon’ts”. Every time […]
I have now published seven blog posts. Seven little essays I wrote all by myself. I did not show them to anyone, nor ask anyone’s permission before clicking the “publish” button. As I am writing them, it feels like a bubble of words and emotions is welling up in me. Clicking that button is like popping the bubble as it reaches the surface. It […]
There seem to be several popular genres of photos that teenage girls find suitable for posting on Facebook. There’s the provocative self-portrait: head tilted slightly upward towards iPhone or webcam, challenging the camera with a dramatic “who meeeeee?” expression, pursed lips (now commonly referred to as “duckface”), with optional cleavage, bare belly (common amongst those with navel piercing) and/or upside down peace fingers. Also popular is the posed standing shot: […]
In 1978 when I was twelve, my classmate and friend Ann Ellinwood was abducted in broad daylight as she took part in the March of Dimes Walk-a-Thon in Corvallis, Oregon, and was never seen again. The details of this horrific crime were never revealed, though enough evidence was found to name a suspect. The alleged murderer committed suicide the day he was to appear […]
I moved into my house about 5 years ago. At the time, I was involved in a relationship with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. There were good reasons for this lack of committedness, though I shall not delve into them here. For two years in a row during the holidays, he and I were profoundly in the off-again mode. Thus, I was reduced to putting up the Christmas tree without another adult […]
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