The weather’s been stifling here for the past few days, with hot, humid winds blowing up from the south and air so thick you can practically slice it. Early this morning I heard distant thunder and smiled, remembering the thrilling thunderstorms that punctuated the long, stagnant Midwestern summer afternoons of my youth. This nostalgia was immediately followed, however, by the … [Read more...]
Jules and Vincent, professional hitmen, have a mess on their hands. They've accidentally shot someone in the backseat of Jules' car, and they need to get rid of the evidence fast. They retreat to the nearby suburban home of their friend Jimmy, who anticipates the imminent arrival of his volatile wife, Bonnie. With the clock ticking, Jules contacts his boss, who immediately … [Read more...]
When my mother's only sister passed away in 2000, right around the Cancer Solstice, she took with her an entire era of my family’s history. Hers was a generation which seemed to produce more than its share of great ladies, my aunt and my mother among them. You can judge the success of a person’s life, I think, by how many phone calls must be made to notify people of their … [Read more...]
On the first day of this year, I swore I would make no resolutions beyond trying to be a kinder and better version of myself. I lied. Well, that’s not exactly true; I was sincere, actually. But old habits die hard, and I didn’t stick to that no-resolution resolution. I soon returned, like a swallow to Capistrano, to my calendars and planners and markers, sketching out an … [Read more...]
Most of us don’t remember learning to speak in our native language. We may not recall, exactly, how we picked up reading and writing, tying our shoes, or riding a bike. Somewhere along the way we learned other skills, too, like how to get a library card, put on makeup, drive a car, flirt. Some of these we learned from brothers and sisters, some from neighbors and classmates, … [Read more...]
