TRIGGER WARNING: . . . . . . . . . This piece includes a discussion on responses to allegations of rape in the context of a mental health crisis. Back in the early days of working at the world’s healthiest grocery store, I was asked by the shift leader to be a...
Covid Memory
The other day I was ringing up the groceries of a woman who I guessed to be in her early 60s. We chatted briefly while maintaining the appropriate social distancing asked of us during these times. I asked her if she wanted her receipt. She looked at me with sad, tired eyes and said...
On Celebration of the Small
I woke up today with only the slightest of headaches. I consider that a victory. I woke up feeling surprisingly rested. I consider that a victory. Even though the air was cold and my bed was warm, I got up to shower for my morning yoga class. I consider that a victory. Within 10...
Times My Mom Was a Badass (or the Blessings of Being Raised by a Black Sheep)
1. In the mid-60s, my mom’s first job out of library school was at the Chicago Public Library on Michigan Avenue. She was a reference librarian. A man came in and complained that there was a “nigger” sitting at the reference desk. Her boss explained: “That is Mrs. F. If you want help with...
5 Life Lessons My Mom Taught Me
1. On the eve of my freshman year of college, my mom told me to not let anyone borrow my slips. As it turned out she was right. I let C borrow my black half slip. I never got it back. She lost it on a date. 2. When I was 10 my mom...
Abandonment and Open Hearts
One of the things I learned in law school was how to do Stations of the Cross. It wasn’t a class offering; just something I learned when I tagged along with my friend T on Friday nights during Lent. It’s essentially a walking mediation in which you stand before a series of fourteen panels...
How the Road Turned — We Enter the Lenten Season
We are in the season of Lent. I only know this because I happened to end up at a Catholic law school — a super, duper Catholic law school. I only learned how super, duper it truly was on the very first day of school at the start of my Contracts class. The professor...
Listening to Better Angels
When I was 24, I lived in a tiny town called Parker, Arizona, located on a reservation straddling the Arizona/California border. It was a short-term thing. A “zig” on the path of my life; a zig that was unexpected, but much needed. I had landed there because that’s where my college friend M was...
My Dentist, My Sensei
A few days ago before my birthday, I went to the dentist for my semi-annual cleaning. I kind of like going to the dentist. I’m phobic about my teeth. Not the teeth themselves, but the thought of losing them for any number of odd reasons. I’ve had dreams about losing my teeth and have...
And so it begins …
This first post is dedicated to my starseed sister, Chèrie. She is the someone who gave me a little push …