Things Have Always Been Terrible

A series in which I make you feel less lonely, realizing how many other pandemics humans have lived through. I found a book that the library had removed from its collection, entitled Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, Third Edition, edited by George Childs Kohn. It impressed me by having 454 pages of terrible things that […]

A Grip

The floor is always there. Usually we use it for walking, but I’ve found myself on it from time to time. I have, once, come home and sat on the floor, and then crawled to bed. I have, once, fallen asleep on my bathroom floor. I was sick, there, and sometimes I had made myself […]

The Seventh

I was prepared for the January 6th committee hearing this time. I spent the first one secured by a friend on either side of me. I spent others half awake, half asleep. For the seventh, I sat in my art room and started clipping wire and jewelry I never wore, stringing tiny necklaces for wine […]

Bellyaching

I’m a champion complainer now. A gold medal bitcher. It surprises me, too. My work had arranged for me to travel to California’s Napa Valley to attend a conference. When I first heard about it, I was thrilled. But then complaints surfaced. I wanted to take a friend, but couldn’t figure out how to make […]