My Aunt Mary and Dolly Parton had something in common; they never left home without their “war paint” on. Pond’s cold cream and Oil of Olay – goop on, goop off. Gluing on false eyelashes and curling the ones she had, applying foundations, powder for the shiny spots, rouge to add color to the cheeks she justContinue reading “Aunt Mary’s Mask”
Category Archives: Essays
Go collect your rubles, Troll, Part 2
They are not talking to me now. Because I questioned their understanding of just who their enemies are. Fox Media had convinced them there was a caravan of terrorists walking – walking – to the U. S. border from various South American countries. I said that was not true. They dismissed me as a Pollyanna.Continue reading “Go collect your rubles, Troll, Part 2”
Where do you store your grief?
What body part stores my grief? I dunno, maybe it’s my feet. By best friend Bernice has a theory about injuries and maladies. That they illustrate a spiritual need that’s not being met. So, I keep breaking/wounding my feet and ankles these last few months. Go ahead, find the parallel, the symbolism of foot problems while Sheltering In Place. I’llContinue reading “Where do you store your grief?”
Colors of the Pandemic
The colors of a pandemic are all muted, the days are covered with a gauzy film of desperation. I guess the part that is most dreadful is knowing hundreds of thousands of people are taking their last breath in colorless rooms where kind cloth covered strangers hold phones to their faces so the family members who would haveContinue reading “Colors of the Pandemic”
No Suitcases
The feral kittens are playing outside leaping upon each other and stray branches. I try to coalesce my mind wanderings to the year 1848, to the aftermath of Harper’s Ferry, to travelers on the Underground Railroad, because that is the bloody exciting piece of history, a pivotal moment of Mary Ellen Pleasant’s life, where theContinue reading “No Suitcases”
Go collect your rubles, Troll
The insult comes immediately upon commenting on line. It’s usually some variation of how I am a Libtard Ivory Tower Snowflake when requesting compassion for the incarcerated. So I type: “go pick up your rubles, troll”. The crazed conspiracy lovers who quote “Fox News” get this comment: “Fox Media because oxymoron”, that’s not news andContinue reading “Go collect your rubles, Troll”
Easy to be silent
In the corridors of memory, I keep a hazy replica of the stucco house in Miami, especially Grandma Tripp’s sewing room. The smells of recently lemon-oiled wood and cedar closets. Trunks and powdered linen. The soft Miami breeze in the corner room at the top of the stairs. The Singer sewing machine in a roundedContinue reading “Easy to be silent”
Love in the time of coronavirus
Starting last Thursday, terror became a day to day thing. Starting late last month, shit got real. Love in the time of coronavirus means calling just to hear the faraway one’s voice.“Just checking in. How y’all holding up?”Video chatting has blurred the meaning of distance. The Winged Wahine had not yet booked our next globeContinue reading “Love in the time of coronavirus”
Writing in the Age of Twitter
“Hey Old Man, take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you. I need someone to love me the whole day through….” – Neil Young Got a long email today inveighing against the passing along of chain e-mails. Wasn’t that a chain e-mail too? As we transition to the ones and zeroes ofContinue reading “Writing in the Age of Twitter”
Cost of Justice
There are no winners and losers in Justice.Winner NEVER takes all. True justice cannot be bought, but everyone pays a price to see it done. Yes, I will risk my livelihood. Yes, I will risk my material comfort. I shouldn’t have to, but sometimes, the bad guys get the upper hand, and the terrible costContinue reading “Cost of Justice”
