Families

Yesterday was the last day of holy carnival. Today is the beginning of keeping, as directed, “a holy Lent.” These two families, Mardi Gras family and church family, pull me in two directions in a way that is familiar. For many years, I had a mom and a dad who did not get along. Mardi […]

How To

Weekly Reader, 3, 2, 1 Contact, a Highlights for Children in the pediatrician’s waiting room. But I preferred grownup magazines: Reader’s Digest, which I scrutinized in the basement hallway, waiting for my mother’s piano lesson to end, and mine to begin. All those tiles with all those swiss cheese holes. And a million Reader’s Digests. […]

Dolls

My Barbie phase was rather short. My Sesame Guy phase went on forever. Yes, Barbie could wear clothes– a ruffly peach ball gown, a fluffy blue frock. That was her main advantage. On the minus side, Barbie was always single, in her 20s, and she was only qualified for jobs like photographer or magazine editor. […]

Secrets

Something terrible had happened, and I needed to tell the authorities. I made a solemn recording to offer anonymously the following information: the neighbors’ babysitter had had her boyfriend over. She had been expressly forbidden to have her boyfriend over. They talked. Yes, I was burdened with this information. How could I have borne it? […]