Not until 1974 could women in the U.S. open bank accounts without their husband’s signature. If a woman had no money of her own, she was dependent on the men in her life for everything. In Margaret Atwood’s horrifying dystopian…Continue Reading →
During the summer of 2001, thanks to a fiction grant I won from the state of Virginia—bless you taxpayers—I crossed the pond to Europe for the first time. That first summer I went alone to London, where I contracted a…Continue Reading →
On the third day of 2018, Dan came into my life. Since the last week in December, we had exchanged emails through Match.com, a dubious, often crazy way to meet those of the opposite sex. We made plans to meet…Continue Reading →
Since we met in 2018, Dan and I have traveled to Europe together six times. Our first to Italy was the most disastrous I have ever taken. Those smiling poses on Facebook don’t tell the whole story. Our Italian trip…Continue Reading →
On election day 2022, I was driving past Timber Lane Elementary, which doubles as a polling place. In front of the school along with the candidates’ political signs was a sign objecting to government mandates imposed during the pandemic. DOWN…Continue Reading →
As soon as I could read, I fell in love with books. Reading took me out of the life I was living. No longer was I an isolated girl in a small military town on the coast of North Carolina….Continue Reading →
Bunions and hammer toes: if you do not know what they are, count your blessings. Most people with these painful conditions blame their shoes. Women blame wearing high heels or other ill-fitting shoes, but these conditions are often hereditary. My…Continue Reading →
In the summer of ’09, my husband John and I took a train from Krakow, Poland to Lviv, Ukraine. When we arrived at the border between Poland and Ukraine, we had to get off the train in the Polish city…Continue Reading →
