They were too young to have the responsibility of the baby. I did my usual commuter routine, making my way down the aisle in a rush, and looking for a window seat with an empty seat beside it. I took the train to work every morning and back home every…

Seasons Fall now under this spell when a burst of crazy wind whispers vague promises of fruition beyond abundance scattered down dark empty streets of mystery

A big turkey buzzard smacked headlong into my car windshield. Scavenging roadkill, it was just lifting off as my car rounded the bend. First, there was a sickening thump and I lost the road in a mass of black feathers. “You did that to yourself,” I shouted, sorrowful at the…

I was seventeen when my parents divorced. My father kept the house and my mother was cast adrift. She left a successful business, most of her clothing, pictures and books, dishes, and her garden. She left us too. Driving her white El Dorado from Pennsylvania to Florida in a straight…

Under the boardwalk, we’ll be falling in love… When I was young, my family would go “down the shore.” That’s Pennsylvanian for a family vacation at the ocean — usually the beaches of New Jersey or Maryland. …

Starting Sept. 30th, states will face a sharp reduction in federal childcare investments. Pandemic-era funding has helped stabilize the childcare sector for the past two years. …

Sweltering, the sidewalk leads to a doorway An escape from the slow burn of the afternoon A cantina with fading cerveza signs four deer heads, glass eyes watching mounted high on plywood walls watercolor cactuses grow in a barren landscape pointing in sharp relief to a quiet corner I steal…

When I taught aerobics, each January my gym would gear up for a big spike in new memberships. We called the new members “The Resolutioners.” At first, they’d come in and workout on a regular basis. After a few weeks, they’d start to lose their resolve, showing up less and…

A few days after her funeral, I was cleaning out my mother’s desk. The usual detritus was there; business cards, stamps, envelopes, stationary, and news articles, nicely clipped together. These were her tools of the trade. Opening the center drawer, I found a letter my mother had written, dated just…