On Friday, Rosie got her first COVID-19 inoculation. We drove down to the health department the long way, past a bright orange riot of late fall trees. I was babbling, as grown-ups do, promising Rosie it would be over quickly. “Just a quick shot, then we’ll go get French fries. And you can tell your grandchildren you survived the pandemic.” We went into the health department, up to the sixth floor. I filled out the form with trepidation, even though I... Read more
Just a warning to others who have been traumatized by diets, I’m going to describe some disordered eating in detail today. I’ll try to write something a little less nasty tomorrow. My facebook page has randomly been suggesting “memories” to me lately. I don’t know how it decides which memories are important. The memories it’s giving me now are from 2015. They aren’t nice. They’re memories of when my odd hodgepodge of chronic illness symptoms were flaring all at once,... Read more
The neighbor I met last month moved out of that leaky, moldy house right across from where Tink was murdered. She got into a townhouse all the way out of LaBelle, with her Section Eight. She liked the new place much better; her children could play outdoors without fear. But it was a mile and a half from the bus route and they didn’t have a car– nor a bed. Her children had toddler beds but she didn’t. She is... Read more
Last week was Halloween. As anyone familiar with my work knows by now, my family was dragged into the Charismatic Renewal for a few agonizing years when I was in grammar school. The religious sister who was my mother’s manipulative “spiritual director” was obsessed with the Satanic Panic. She taught us that everything was dangerous and an occasion for demonic possession, and we had to be very careful to be safe. When I was about ten, and the Charismatic... Read more
The other day, my friends and I were bantering about a ludicrous article published in LifeSite, about someone who claims she saw what my friend Mike calls a “sentient transhuman 5g nano-octopus” in a vaccine. We laughed. I even drew a very bad picture of a cyborg octopus for a joke. But in a way it wasn’t funny, because lots of people seemed to believe it. And I’ve seen several other equally silly vaccine conspiracy theories lately, which people believe... Read more
We went to Robinson to buy Rosie new clothes. That’s not a luxury we can afford very often, but we were given a generous gift card from a lovely reader. It felt surreal to be going shopping, with money as tight as it’s been lately. It’s been touch and go since we came back from Columbus and last month was worst of all. We have a stack of utility bills and a looming shutoff notice, but we also had thirty... Read more
It’s All Saints’ Day. What can I say about the Communion of Saints? The Communion of Saints are our mothers. I began thinking about them this way in response to a grumpy priest who thought it would be funny to correct the Pope. The Pope had said something about “Mother Earth” and the priest pontificated that actually, the Virgin Mary was our mother. Never mind that Saint Francis referred to Earth as his mother, so doing so is the most... Read more
It all started when a disgusting person was being characteristically disgusting on Twitter. I don’t want to involve myself with people who say and do revolting things just to hurt others and make a scene. I don’t even want to say his name, but you all know it. It’s a person who publicly admitted to having had “liaisons with men” and “live-in relationships with homosexual men” and I wouldn’t care at all if he had, except that he’s constantly spreading... Read more
I went for a hike by myself. When I was a teenager I was told not to go on hikes by myself because “you might break your leg and die,” but I didn’t listen. I wandered off from my family at those strange reunions up in Pocahontas County, to have peace and quiet by myself. This was considered one of my eccentricities and a sign that I wasn’t all right. I was supposed to like staying at the party... Read more
Last week, Rosie and I delivered a carload of supplies from the birthday donation drive for the Friendship Room: toilet paper, breakfast cereal, granola bars, socks. Rosie had personally packed up the backpacks for the homeless with snacks, a menstrual supplies kit, a shower kit, nail clippers, a rain poncho and a tuna salad lunch kit. I’d tucked a colorful card in each one; they were printed with encouraging phrases. “We love you. Hang in there. I hope... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In