Our friend Amanda said, “Come for dinner while there is still light in the sky.” On the way there, my husband Kenji and I had to call, "We haven’t been to your house in so long, we forgot the address!"…

[fiction. A story about a grad student and her wild proposal for her thesis: track down real instances of magical realism in Latin America.] Amelia sat before her advisor without an answer about what would be her point. She did…

I get into my car and drive my body down the coast To see my old friend. Kathe. I bring pot, and music, Gifts for her caretaker, Chocolate for her In the car I sing, I cry, I listen. I…

Nothing confines me except the chains that I forge for myself, link by link.

Happiness isn't all I asked for. I asked for love. I asked for hope. I asked for enough money to survive. I asked for faith. I asked for health. I asked for these things for everyone, not just for me.…

Every time I read The Cat in the Hat to my children, which was a lot of times, (we were all off book by the time the younger one hit second grade), I was struck by this line which the…

Part of my first job after college was to write and produce five short dramatic films intended to teach college students how to drink responsibly – this at UMass/Amherst, a notorious party school. I felt unqualified for the job –…

(fiction continues) Sandy McCloud happened to be the youngest and newest professor in the department. Amelia knew that her assignment to this woman hadn't been a mistake. Given the school's trust in Amelia's prospects, they weren't going to waste the…

Happiness isn't all we asked for and it is not the way of our lives. Happiness is assumed. How could we not be happy? All that we could want, all is provided. One lives or dies and the life, it…

I once worked with a lovely woman, I’ll call her Mindy. Mindy had a kind of pale, delicate beauty, curly once blond hair, pretty blue eyes, kind smile. She taught English in the room next to me, the ‘fishbowl’ room…

By the time I reached fifth grade, my parents had moved so many times, I decided never again to make a friend. Once I heard my aunt tell my father (who was her brother), "It's not good for you to…

When we say someone has “come out of the closet”, we are broadcasting that a human has freed themselves from the dark secrets, the hidden fears, that have made life small, and we celebrate the courage it takes to turn…