New England

Different Memories

If my family had been a bit more prosperous, I might have been at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970. I might have somehow been involved in or witness to an infamous early shooting of students not by a crazed citizen but by a military body charged with protecting them. As it…Read more Different Memories

White is the New Orange

What is White? The other day I was filling out one of those forms that have little boxes to click: African-American, Asian-American, Latin-American, Native American. And White. Okay, there was one that said something like “prefer not to say”. To me that has always felt rather childish, like “Neener-neener, you can’t make me tell you.”…Read more White is the New Orange

A hard slog to an Easy Pass

2022 was a rough year, and no one was happier than I was to leave it behind. Or so I thought, until a couple weeks ago. Let me start at the beginning, which actually wasn’t until October 25, 2022. Coming home from a New England Library Association conference, I found myself on a toll road…Read more A hard slog to an Easy Pass

Hail and Good Riddance

For three weeks I watched my landlord’s son clear the driveway repeatedly of several feet of snow and ice. I huddled in my apartment while the power was off-and-on and the skies wept in dark despair. This week the sun came out and it all turned to warm ugly mud in a mood swing that…Read more Hail and Good Riddance

Bee-n thinking about bees

For the summer, here's a short bit written to a photo prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for the Friday Fictioneers, with a little bit of inspiration from our local newspaper. Flowers, unfortunately, often make me think of bees, but then, shouldn't we? PHOTO PROMPT © Na'ama Yehuda Oh, thank heaven, I’ve finally found one of these…Read more Bee-n thinking about bees

The Desert or the Woods?

What’s more mysterious? When I first moved to Vermont from the southwest, I was as enchanted as I was told I should be by every New Englander I met. The green everywhere felt like I’d fallen into a fairy tale. The soft air caressed my face instead of dragging hot dry fingernails across it. And…Read more The Desert or the Woods?