I deliberated long and hard about this post. Would I sound racist? Intolerant? Can I even use the term “illegal immigrants”? Then I began to internally rail against a stifling political climate, where it’s difficult to utter one word about racial issues or imm… Read full post »

 

 

 

In the movies, I’m at my dying aunt’s bedside, a band of loving cousins surrounding me. I’m singing a song she used to sing with my mother and other aunts and uncles a long, long time ago. When they’d sit around the kitchen… Read full post »

 

[This is a piece I wrote several years ago that seems timely considering the d-i-v-o-r-c-e.]

 

I don’t have the movie star hots for Tom Cruise. I don’t even like him much as actor. He seems like a shiny little alien on Scientology overdrive. But while in… Read full post »

 Originally written for Freedom is Green.

On Tuesday, I woke up to find that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to… Read full post »

A final blow to the head and he was out cold, face down, glistening drool seeping from his cracked, nicotine-stained lips. And I was the one who did it. I warned him that I would. That I could. But he didn't… Read full post »

Say Anything came out… Read full post »

My New Year's resolution made over a decade ago was to touch people more. To break that social wall that keeps our hands and bodies a safe distance from one other. To connect more physically.

I'm speaking of the/… Read full post »

 

And maybe there are seasons. And maybe they change. And maybe to love is not so strange. - Dan Fogelberg, To the Morning

 

I'm going to give away the punchline: I fell in love with a… Read full post »

The dollhouse? He broke my dollhouse too?

In my early 20’s, I naively thought someone had to hit you to constitute an abusive relationship. I didn’t know that breaking all of your shit was also a form of abuse. And that’s what Bill did.…

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I was suspicious of them early on, though I wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps its that pervasive and cloying "pink means female" message. We suffer from a "cute" femmy disease and wear sweet little ribbons to prove it. Barbie should wear one!

After watching several friends and relatives die
…

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So you have a cell phone? Okay, well good for you. I do too! Fancy, isn't it? But remember, there are some rules to remember when using that spiffy telecommunication device of yours in public:

1. You're not special because you have a cell phone. Small children and… Read full post »

I’m looting my neighbor’s garden. Looting light, I would call it. Everyone has been evacuated and I’m one of the few remaining at the Jersey shore during Hurricane Irene. I grab a few ripe tomatoes, a batch of heady oregano. It’s all/… Read full post »

 [This piece was originally posted on FreedomisGreen. Chris Goldstein and I - both longstanding OSers - are editors there. Please stop by and check it out!]

 

I was ten years old and living at the Jersey shore when I heard the song  “Someone Saved my Life Tonight” by… Read full post »

 

 

[This was first published at RedRoom.com, another great site for writers.]

I’m not defending Kristen LaBrie. Her case is hardly clear-cut. This single mother was convicted of attempted murder, among other charges, for ceasing to give chemotherapy to her 9-year old autistic and cancer-stricken son, Jeremy Fraser. He eventually died and she will spend 8 - 10/… Read full post »

 

When my mom was dying of cancer years ago, I gave her a journal. I told her to write anything she wanted in it. My mother was a consummate reader and a creative writing teacher, so I knew it wouldn't be a stretch for her. After she…

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I'm hiding in a snow drift in my backyard, waiting to hear his truck leave. He bellows, "Let me in, Beth Mann." I know what he wants. And I can't give it to him. But why?

Kurt is the youngest of the brothers I've befriended here at the Jersey… Read full post »

When I first watched Glee, I felt giddy. Unabashedly expressive, darkly humorous...it was an earnest program with a heart.

And yes, I'm talking in past tense. The Hollywood machine ate the show for brunch and bulimically purged it into the pretty mess we now have before us.… Read full post »

If you're anything like me, first off, good luck. It's no easy feat.

Secondly, you smiled big and hard when you read the story about Jet Blue's flight attendant Steven Slater and his dramatic dispute with a passenger. According to The New York Times:

Mr. Slater instructed the person to remain… Read full post »

 

The scientists at Silly Lists of Nothingness have been plugging tirelessly away at yet another ridiculous list for your review. This week, Dr. Ruby Lawrence and Dr. Beth Mann spent nearly two hours in the lab, dissecting photographs of hot men in the name of science.

Now, we're not talking about… Read full post »

 

 

Over coffee this morning, I saw a few FB posts from female friends, excited about showing off some cleavage for "Boobquake" this Monday. While I wanted to be happy about some counterculture movement, this one just made me sigh.

In case you haven't heard, Boobquake was started by…

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"Words are alive. Cut them and they bleed."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson   

 

Yesterday, I had a conversation with an old boyfriend. He said I was the first to say, "I love you." I vaguely remember him initiating it. The debate bordered on an argument and I couldn't help… Read full post »

 I turned my back on television many years ago. Sitcoms, reality TV, annoying commercials - the sheer stupidity of it all seemed too pervasive to overlook. But in the last few years, there's a crop of programs that have me thinking twice. These shows have an almost cinematic quality - beautifull… Read full post »

“Is that the guy who likes to have sex with dead women?” my boyfriend asks.

“No, I think that’s just a myth.”

“Do you want another line?”

“When I’m done. I… Read full post »