We've all had crazy weeks. Everyone across the globe, from Australia to Hungary, Ireland to Mongolia, Norway to Zambia, and a million other places in between, has been trying to deal with the Coronavirus the best they can. Here's how I've survived in my little neck of the woods: --I tried to write a new... Continue Reading →
We have options
I missed the cut. I could cry my eyes out or to steal a cliché, I could get back up on the horse and try again. I was in my mid 20s and I was applying for a newspaper reporter position back in Pennsylvania. My fiancé, now my wife, and I were in Northern Virginia... Continue Reading →
The sound of silence
I took the train home from work recently and I looked to be the lone person on the car without headphones. I noticed it first on the platform: everyone was head-down, headphones in place, looking at their phones. Later on the train, I sat up at one point to stretch my neck and looked in... Continue Reading →
Feeling like an imposter
I hit the restart button. My laptop screen quickly dimmed to black and started the process of rebooting. I turned my smartphone over to see the time and reflexively looked at my watch, as if the two actions combined would miraculously speed up the laptop reboot. I was going to be late to my 9... Continue Reading →
Take me home country roads
I can sense it coming. The feeling starts out like a distant ache. I’ll push it back to the back of my mind in the hopes that it will go away. My attempt to keep my focus to “the here and now” will work for a while, but the feeling will soon come back. This... Continue Reading →
Sticking up for myself
I stormed up to my bigger and stronger teammate and told him that he may have had an out-of-this-world batting swing and ranked as one of the best players on our baseball team, but he should stop bullying everyone. The rest of us didn’t appreciate his behavior. My teammates, seeing my bravery and courage, of... Continue Reading →
Mean girls
The young woman’s eyes gave away her feelings. Two other college-age women approached her and set up shop on the elliptical trainer right next to her. They acknowledged each other like they knew other and the two women said something that I couldn’t hear. The woman who had been working out smiled, but her eyes... Continue Reading →
The pain of perfection
I write the first action item on a blank piece of paper. I don't like how the thought looks in black and white so I roll the paper up into a small ball and throw it into the trash can. I start over, I try again. This time I get through two items on my... Continue Reading →
Fighting my stutter
The teacher stood over me like an angry giant. Looking back now I’m guessing that he couldn’t have been more 5’8 or 5’9 tall and probably had just graduated from college, but to me the substitute teacher held a position of authority, looked pleased to catch his prey out of the classroom, and like he... Continue Reading →

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