The house I live in is more than two hundred years old.  At some point along the way it was divided into apartments, and now it’s a co-op.  It’s a fantastic house, and we’re all incredibly proud of it.  It has all the old-fashioned touches—huge front porch with… Read full post »

I absolutely LOVE popcorn.  Love it love it love it.  It’s one of my favorite foods.  It’s cheap, it’s (relatively) healthy, and it’s DELICIOUS.  My daughters love it too.  Popcorn night is MAJOR around here (which may tell you something about how exci… Read full post »

So I’m reading this book, and it’s difficult, not because the content is painful (although there is that) but because my eyes are filled with tears and I can’t see.  Tears are running down my face and the cats are coming over to sniff me, which is their way… Read full post »

I got married when I was 20.  We started dating in Jan., were engaged in March, married in May. 

I was the one who proposed.  It happened like this:  there was this moment... well.  It was quite the moment.  There was the gazing into each other's eyes, there was the… Read full post »

Autumn's deceptive sun

heats the season

filling fruit

with ripening dreams

of escape

Watch:

crimson plums abandon cold wood

to plummet

plop

and (perhaps)

squish

in bruised triumph

discovering warm brown

soft 

and 

possible.

  Read full post »

Cranky Cuss wrote a post that was on the cover this morning that really resonated with Open Salon readers: 

 http://open.salon.com/blog/cranky_cuss/2010/10/27/is_anybody_happy_anymore

One segment in particular caught my attention:  "But I was thoroughly shaken by the realization that… Read full post »

I should go ride my bike before it gets dark.  It's gorgeous out there.  I should just get up and go ride my bike. 

...

There is nothing new on the internet.  Ha, it's like back in the day when we'd say there was nothing on TV.   I… Read full post »

I will say this wrong, I know I will.

 It will sound like I'm complaining when I'm not.  What I feel is mostly empathy, and some appreciation for unintended consequences.

 I teach at a community college, which means I mostly teach 18-to-20-year-olds.  Lately, those of us who teach… Read full post »

I gave up drinking for a year.  It was my New Year's Resolution, just to see if I could do it.  So far so good-- I have 20 more days to go.  From the Year of No Drinking I have learned the following things:

It's hardest at the beginning and… Read full post »

When you've been doing the same job for nearly 20 years, it's easy to get burnt out.  I teach at a community college, and that means I interact, on a fairly personal level, with 500 people every year.  Now, I don't mean I interact with the same 500 people all year;… Read full post »

You know those days where you need to do Thing A, but before you can do Thing A, you have to do Thing B, which requires Thing C, and so on back through an imaginary flow chart that sometimes, unfortunately, circles back to Thing A, resulting in unbudgeable paralysis and the… Read full post »

Why do I not just renew my car registration and inspection when they expire?  Why must I, every single stupid year, get a stupid ticket and then have to frantically run around getting everything done so I can get the stupid ticket dismissed (for a stupid fee)?

Why do I… Read full post »

I'm happily unmarried.  My sweetie and I both have strong autonomy needs.  This is true of me more than him I think; I despise having anybody tell me what to do, ever.  If someone tells me to do something, my immediate, instinctive response is to most emphatically NOT DO IT.  Chil… Read full post »

Dream he is still alive. 

Wake to the grief

Fresh again.

Then

Dream he is dead.

Wake frantic--

Think, it's okay it's okay it was a dream

Just a dream.

Then in the dark

Alone in the dark

Think

Wait.

 

 

Read full post »

It's time for the Three Good Things pieces!  A month ago, I suggested that we keep a journal where, every day, we would write down three good things that happened that day.  Then, after thirty days, we'd write about it. 

Here's the original Open Call:  http://open.salon.com/blog/… Read full post »

 

      A while back, I happened across a random comment from a writer whose screenname was Darkside, who wrote a series of compelling pieces about the breakup of his marriage.  He was responding to another person's comment, and he mentioned how disappointe… Read full post »

 

The above is a picture of me from a trip to Mexico two weeks ago.  I didn't know my boyfriend had taken it until just now, and it's one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  My first response was to wish he hadn't taken it-- I… Read full post »

 

Last month I wrote a post about Martin Seligman's work in the field of positive psychology:  http://open.salon.com/blog/zella/2009/02/21/three_good_things

The main idea I focused on was a technique Seligman recommends:  write down three good things that happen every day, and t… Read full post »

Read full post »

Recently, I saw a post here on Open Salon where the writer lamented having to settle for a job as a teacher and described it as a soul-killing occupation where dreams go to die.  This post is a response to that one. 

It's terrible to be stuck in a job… Read full post »

 For the longest time, I didn't realize that other people's lives are not usually set to music.  When I was growing up, my mom sang all the time.  There were specific songs for specific situations. Most of 'em were hymns-- she was raised Southern Baptist.  So, for example, if she… Read full post »

 

 A few months ago, I took an exercise class that kicked my butt.  The next day I was doing that thing where you move like an 80-year-old, because every single individual fiber in your muscles is, apparently, shredded.  Ow ow ow ow ow.  I asked the trainer who… Read full post »

Good Night

To be in bed

To be spooned in bed

To have your hand on my hip

To feel loved

To be loved 

In bed

 

Read full post »

 

I went through a severe depression when I was 13.  It was severe enough that I made a "Suicide Kit" so it would be handy if I decided to kill myself.  The Suicide Kit was a little white box-- the kind department store jewelry comes in-- that… Read full post »

When I was 13, I went through a severe depression.  This was in 1983, when we didn't know about depression.  At least, I didn't know about depression.  Maybe other people did. 

 Anyway, I didn't know that what I was feeling was mostly to do with brain chemistry coupled with… Read full post »