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Tell Me Everything, by Cambria Brockman, is a riveting novel that can fairly be compared to Donna Tartt’s highly esteemed The Secret History. The protagonist of Tell Me Everything, Malin, goes to college in New England. It’s not quite Ivy League, but it’s elite and attracts a certain kind of accomplished of student, like the wealthyContinue Reading
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It’s unusual for me to read nonfiction, but I was drawn to Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill for several reasons. I’d already watched Farrow v. Allen and Untouchable, both of which are documentaries on HBO, and which deal with sexual abuse and abuse of power, focusing on the allegations against Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein, respectively. After watching both I cameContinue Reading
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Lately, I’ve been laid up, after having an unexpected, traumatic tooth extraction, and then coming down with Covid. I am fully vaccinated, boosted, practice good dental hygiene, rarely go out and wear a quality mask whenever I do – so this state of affairs has felt extremely unjust. (I am in the process of writingContinue Reading
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This fall, as part of my MFA program in Creative Writing at Lindenwood University I took a course in revisionist fiction. When I told them about the course, my friends and family would ask, “What’s revisionist fiction?” Revisionist fiction is when you take an original work, and riff on it. For instance, there’s the originalContinue Reading
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It’s been several years since I’ve published a novel, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. I started Favorite Daughters roughly six years ago, and I went through multiple revisions and rewrites, and a long process in finding a publisher. But I am happy to announce that Black Rose Writing will release Favorite DaughtersContinue Reading
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Broadcast News has always been one of my top ten favorite films, ever since I saw it in the theater as a teenager. When I was young, I enjoyed it for its witty banter and the depiction of its feminist yet feminine protagonist, Holly Hunter’s Jane. At one point, Jane’s boss says to her sarcastically,Continue Reading
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I became aware of The Ballerinas, by Rachel Kapelke Dale, in an airport bookstore, when I had six hours to kill due to a delayed flight. I was immediately intrigued by its cover, with three female forms donned in pretty pink tutus. That’s because I have spent a lot of time in my life, fromContinue Reading
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If “A Phone Call” was the only story by Dorothy Parker that you ever read, you might dismiss her as frivolous. It would be easy to overlook the commentary on gender dynamics, or the skilled, biting humor that is grounded in self-deprecation, and which layers a profound sadness underneath. “A Telephone Call” is a tragi-comic rambling of a woman so desperate for a man to call her that she’s pushed to the edge. But if you consider that it was written in 1930, when women were expected to b [...]
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Sara Orne Jewett was a turn-of-the-century novelist, poet, and short fiction writer, known especially for emphasizing nature and descriptions of coastal Maine in her work. Two pieces she is most well known for are: A White HeronandThe County of Pointed FirsIn The County of Pointed Firs, Jewett inserts throughout a dueling yet complementary sense of loss and perseverance. The rural town setting of coastal Maine drives the piece, and the environment is as harsh and unforgiving as it is b [...]
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Lately, I've been looking for a sign that I should my job of 21 years, complete my MFA in creative writing, and have time to develop and promote my novels and my blog. To some, this may seem like a no-brainer. If I can afford to do it (which I can) I should go for it, because life is short and opportunities to follow our dreams are limited.But my job isn't just a "job", nobody's is when they're a teacher. The school where I teach, the community it is in, the students & staff - they're [...]
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For my birthday, I was given a subscription to Master Class, which is great, because I am the sort of person who reads course catalogs for fun. When I first logged on to Master Class, I was asked to click on the courses I was interested in, and, well… if Master Class was a dating site, I’d be that gal who right swipes for anyone who has a pulse & doesn’t appear to be a serial killer.I was especially eager about the cooking courses and the writing courses. I&rs [...]
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We all have quarantine stories to tell; this is mine.In a time of loss, we must find joy.This might be too easy for me to say. I’ve had it good, comparatively. I haven’t lost my home, or my livelihood. My loved ones are safe and healthy, as far as I know. For me, the loss that came with quarantine was secondary. On the Monday of the second week of March, I got news that my dad had suddenly died (not from Covid.) My brother, stepsiblings and I told ourselves that [...]
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If you teach high school English, I expect you've seen this list before. I'll bet you even showed it to other members in your English department, and you all shared a good laugh one afternoon, as students left the building and you braced yourself for an hour or two of essay grading before you headed home.That's how it happened for me, when I saw this list for the first time, but that was toward the beginning of my teaching career, before there was Facebook. Since then I have seen it posted [...]
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I’ve never been the type to carefully read instructions. I don’t have the patience. Or, maybe it’s more like most of the time, I don’t understand. I’m not a visual, step by step sort of person. I’ll just assume I know what I’m doing enough to figure it out, that through some combination of instinct, common sense and magic, everything will come together.That strategy worked in the Before-Times, back when there was room for human error because there [...]
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A little over four years ago, I promised Pauline, my daughter who was six at the time, that we would soon have our first female president.Then, that damn New York Times election needle that kept moving in the wrong direction. I had a sleepless night and had to break it to Pauline the next morning that Trump would be our next president.I went to school and saw the scared, deer-in-headlights expressions on my students’ faces. They were sure that they and their families would be deported s [...]
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Normally over Winter Break, my big "me-time" outing would be going to a movie by myself in the afternoon, seeing something that neither Rich nor the kids would want to see, and which I would thoroughly enjoy partly because it's such an indulgence, to sit alone in a movie theater in the middle of the afternoon. However, that was obviously not happening this winter break, so I had to find a new way to indulge myself.The solution was to lose myself while following the recipe for a sausage-ap [...]
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lLet’s talk about “Karen”. Karen is a white woman who takes her privilege for granted and she uses her power by diminishing or degrading others in the process. Conservatives think Karens are women who consider themselves woke, and that Karens go around telling others that they’re not anti-racist enough. To them, Nancy Pelosi is the ultimate Karen, because she is a woman who uses her gavel, rips up Trump’s speech, and claps at Trump slowly and maliciously. Mea [...]
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First, a disclaimer: I realize using the word “girl” in regards to turning 50 is both inaccurate and a bit diminishing. I am a woman and I should be proud of my wisdom, sophistication, and life experience. I am proud. However, using “girl” in regards to my 50th birthday slaps a bit of youthfulness onto the occasion, and if I can’t be young anymore, I can at least feel youthful.So, how do I celebrate turning 50? I’ll be honest; I’d really rather no [...]
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Dear Jake Tapper,I feel betrayed. I tweeted but you didn’t respond. Rarely do I have time to watch your show, but I’d worked ahead on my lesson plans and grading, so I could finish early to make a birthday cake for my son. I had on "The Beat" while I was in the kitchen, and you did this segment about “Do Teachers Need to be Vaccinated for Schools to Safely Reopen?” Dr. Paul Offit was your guest, and you asked him if there was any reason why a “normal, he [...]
