As many of you know, my husband had a health crisis earlier this year, and the ongoing medical costs of his recovery have tanked our finances. Since full recovery from a pulmonary embolism and DVT can take up to one or two years, we had hoped that relocating might preserve what security we have left.Continue reading “10 Steps Closer to Living Legally in a Tiny House”
Tag Archives: Seattle
My American Dream Dies Here
It was a good dream. In this dream, I owned a small, modest house in a quiet town. I sat beneath a tree and sipped hot cocoa under the stars. I worked hard as a teacher and served my students well. I paid my bills on time. I helped my neighbors. I pulled on rainContinue reading “My American Dream Dies Here”
Halfway into the Unknown
Halfway through my Masters of Education program, I just started observing Level 1 ESL classes in the Seattle area. And wow. Boy is there loads I still don’t know. I tutored ESL students for 15 years while teaching occasional stand-alone workshops to them for five years. And I still know nothing about classroom management, curriculumContinue reading “Halfway into the Unknown”
When a City Reminds You of Those You’ve Lost
I had a best friend a few years back. A straight guy. Which maybe should have tipped me off. But I’d known him since middle school. We’d been chummy for many years, and he had gradually become a second brother to me. Year after year, we ambled down Third Avenue in chilly November rain andContinue reading “When a City Reminds You of Those You’ve Lost”
Disrupting Porn Fantasies: Midnights at the Electric Blue Angel
A new work written by Josh Hornbeck (Heavy Lay the Chains, The Beating of a Warrior’s Heart), Midnights at the Electric Blue Angel swivels a white-hot spotlight onto porn fantasies and reveals the abusive sexual objectification that lies beneath. The play opens on two young people sipping coffee on a first date. Suddenly, a spotlightContinue reading “Disrupting Porn Fantasies: Midnights at the Electric Blue Angel”
So a Random Guy Pulls up and Asks If I Want a Ride
So I’m walking down my street with a full grocery bag when a guy pulls up to me in his car. He pulls up with his window down and looks me over and asks, “Want a ride?” I’ve never seen this guy anywhere in my life. So I wait for him to realize his mistake—because he must haveContinue reading “So a Random Guy Pulls up and Asks If I Want a Ride”
Just Another Cupcake Mishap
I first discovered Seattle’s cupcake culture five years ago, on a display table in a Queen Anne grocery store. Cupcake Royale packages single and double cupcakes in boxes color-coded with childhood memories of Baskin Robbins’s circa 1986–those brown cartons crowned with polka dots of alternating pink and brown. It was love at first sight. Under the little cellophaneContinue reading “Just Another Cupcake Mishap”
When Diving Under the Table Isn’t Enough
Recently, I went to a Seattle bar hosting festivities in honor of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. As my friend and I ate our haggis and enjoyed the bagpipes, someone volunteered himself as company. A man in his sixties slid into our booth and beamed his red cheeks and full white beard straight at me. HeContinue reading “When Diving Under the Table Isn’t Enough”
Saying Goodbye
One hour ago I packed up my housemate and leaned through the driver’s open window to tease her. Then, I stepped back. She spooled up her iPod, and her stereo’s bass thumped. We grinned. We had crammed her windows with socks and running shoes and an old clock, the folded flag from her father’s funeral. All the detritusContinue reading “Saying Goodbye”
Body as Home
I miss the roads along which I used to run. Running taught me many things. It taught me perseverance when things got tough. It taught me to respect the boundaries of a physical body, and to distinguish between when to push myself–and when to take it easy. It taught me my own fierce strength. And itContinue reading “Body as Home”
The Trailer Park MFA 
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