Tour d’Emporia

I drove the length of Emporia, Kansas, from the college that my great-grandmother and my grandfather attended, to the river at the other edge. They have 25,000 people. My current home which has 96,000. My great-grandma’s hometown is currently at 383. The perky downtown has ramen, Mexican, a wine bar, a brewery, and a place […]

She Did

She did not cry. We go into the American Girl Store at the mall. I am looking after her, as we are in the middle of a medium-sized family crisis, and others need to be at the hospital. I have never been in this store. My parents did not love me enough to buy me […]

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge

We went to Galaxy’s Edge on Day 4 of public access. Our level of “Star Wars” interest and expertise ranged from loving the first three movies and having seen the others to that plus some knowledge of comic books and books. Our group got two reservations because there were 8 of us, and only […]

Fear Of

I read this Raymond Carver poem with middle school students: Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive. Fear of falling asleep at night. Fear of not falling asleep. Fear of the past rising up. Fear of the present taking flight. Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night. Fear […]