armed against cancer
In a photograph, Susan Spence is wearing a green swimsuit covered with peace signs, her outstretched arms revealing names written in grease marker. These are the people for whom she…
fun
When I started my MFA program at Goucher College, my mind was in a frantic race for a thesis. Would I write Kisstory: The History of the Kiss? Would I…
eulogy for my father
I just took this photo for him in the window of a law firmin Hampden because he had everything. It became achallenge to shop for him, so we started making…
tonic
Daily beer aside, I’m not much of a drinker anymore. My goals as a grownup are different; I drink ale because it tastes good, not because it makes me tipsy. …
scenery
I wake up every morning, and I say, “Ugh.” Sometimes it’s “Uck.” Sometimes it’s “Fuck,” truth be told. I don’t wake up much these days with a song in my…
social disease
On June 28, 2011, one year ago today, my dad was diagnosed with large cell B lymphoma. It was just two weeks after I was diagnosed with small cell B…
no balloons
My husband’s aunt is 85, and she was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It’s late—the cancer, the time, the life. But the life is precious; they are all precious. We…
750 choice words about my feelings for the Beatles
I do not like them in a car. I do not like them in a bar. I do not like them in my yard, in a singing card, in a…
the new “about me” section
I have always liked to break things and put them back together in a random, yet tasteful, order. You can apply that to art—mosaics, poetry, music—and life. I rearrange the…