PinnedBe brave with your life.Once upon a time, when I was still living in Los Angeles and my mother was still alive, she came to visit me. Mom visited often; she loved California. She was an avid gardener, and we used to go for long walks so she could admire the trees and flowers…Life6 min readLife6 min read
PinnedRoom(s) with a ViewThe Mansion Sometimes, I still wonder if I dreamt it. An orange brick mansion on the periphery of a park. Chandeliers dripping crystals. Vivid brushstrokes on canvas, encased in gilded frames. A wide, softly carpeted staircase leading to the second floor. In the lounge, we select seats on a sofa…Mwc Space7 min readMwc Space7 min read
Sep 10, 2021Pandemic Time.The students are coming back. The normally sleepy side street near the coffee house where I like to write is jammed with buses and orange traffic cones cordoning off parking spaces. I drive a few blocks, looking for a place to turn around, and pass a small but mighty band…Covid-193 min readCovid-193 min read
Sep 24, 2019Seven years“Maybe it’s okay if it takes time, to be okay. Maybe healing is a road that is lined with endless grace.” – Morgan Harper Nichols Dear Mom, How do I begin? Usually, I’m the one other people come to when they need help figuring out what to say. But in…Life Lessons8 min readLife Lessons8 min read
Aug 20, 2019Motherland.“my mother was my first country. the first place I ever lived.” - Nayyirah Waheed I’ve been back in the Pacific Northwest for nearly three weeks. The weather has been glorious, reminding me of all the childhood summers I spent on this same beach in front of my grandparents’ house…Mothers3 min readMothers3 min read
Aug 15, 2019The soft season.The hard season will split you through. . . / but do not worry. . . / keep speaking the years from their hiding places. keep coughing up smoke from all the deaths you have died. keep the rage tender. because the soft season will come. it will come. …Time5 min readTime5 min read
Apr 14, 2019Westeros (or, what Game of Thrones means to me).The day before the season seven finale of Game of Thrones, I left Los Angeles. All that remained of the eighteen years I’d spent there was contained in three suitcases, a duffle bag, and four cardboard boxes. …Game Of Thrones5 min readGame Of Thrones5 min read
Dec 23, 2018Magic.Listen to the Mustn’ts, child. Listen to the Don’ts. Listen to the Shouldn’ts, the Impossibles, the Won’ts. Listen to the Never Haves, then listen close to me. Anything can happen, child. Anything can be. – Shel Silverstein On the eighteenth day of December, I took a walk along Riverside Drive…Life Lessons8 min readLife Lessons8 min read
Nov 27, 2018Onward.“Do you faint?” It was not a question I was expecting. But then, the size of the needle the doctor was wielding was not something I was expecting, either. She was going to put that thing in my eye. OK, my eyelid. But still. “Umm, I don’t think so? I…Life Lessons5 min readLife Lessons5 min read
Sep 28, 2018Autumn.“It is the nature of grace to fill the places that have been empty.” – Goethe I knew summer was over before I dipped my toes in the saltwater. The normally cloudy Case Inlet was unusually clear, a sign of a fresh current of (cold) water coursing through the bay…New York5 min readNew York5 min read