HALFWAY

Today is halfway through 2020 and it's a good place to pause and take stock. For many human beings this has already been a tragic year on so many levels, so I feel I need to access my situation. We are both retired so we're doing fine as far as finances go. That is, unlike …

SPEAKING UP

from 27 June 2020, The New York Times: "It’s crazy. I’ve never been to a protest before — like, ever. I got inspired by what people were doing all across America, but there was no protest in Nashville at the time. I was like, why isn’t Tennessee doing anything? Why are they silent?"—Zee Thomas Two days …

MASK

All persons in my county must be masked when visiting any indoor public space, beginning 1 July 2020. The county itself requested this. As a friend said to me on the phone: we're a tourist economy and people come here from everywhere. We need some protection. from NPR "Masks And The Outdoor Exerciser: Advice For Runners, …

PUBLIC ACCESS

Today is the 25th of June and I am struggling to keep track of time, especially because July Fourth is coming up fast. For most of my life payday was the 25th because I worked for a local public school district from 1979 to 2019 . . . or was that 2018? Everything, especially time, …

FOUND & MADE

animal vegetable mineral • mineral vegetable animal     winter spring summer fall FOUND: "Glimmer" read by the author Nicola Griffiths.      

DEAR RAT

The other day when we came home from our morning walk, Gary did what he generally does and walked around the house. Just in case. That day he found a dead rat on the north side concrete walkway. No blood, no wound, an apparently sleek and healthy but certainly dead rat. Had the rat tried …

HOPELINGS

Bracken, the online journal from Washington, believes in hope to get us all by through with "love of the woods and its shadows." It is a beautiful magazine I've already recommended. Begin with Bracken's main page because just now you do not want to miss another look at Amanda Greive's art, and then click on "Coronavirus Hopelings" for a series …

FATHER OF MINE

My own father, Arthur Henry Priddy, kept "salmon" (orange) three by five cards in the breast pocket of his shirts and he wrote with a striped green fountain pen in blue-black ink. When I asked him questions as a child he always knew the answers. When I wanted to know about trade in the Minoan …

Why We Write: On Pandemics, Heat Waves, Police Brutality, and Resiliency

Her mother's "writing represented both financial and emotional survival. For money, she edited a small newspaper and freelanced articles. For solace, she wrote stories at dawn. Some were published, and some weren’t. Publishing wasn’t the point." Melissa Hart is the author of Better with Books: 500 Diverse Books to Ignite Empathy and Encourage Self-Acceptance in Tweens …

ACCEPTANCE

Acceptance is a multilayered thing that means different things to different people. It can even mean different things to the same people at different times. Case in point— Among writers, "acceptance" has a specific meaning: work has been accepted for publication. The journals I send my work to have an acceptance rate that is quite …