We turned 10 this week, and instead of getting together for a gala, we wrote each other postcards, alone in our homes. It’s a very writerly way to celebrate. Thanks, pandemic. Today we wrap up our week-long celebration with postcards from Sarah, Jenny, and Cameron. Sarah Gilman Dear 2010 Sarah G.— First, you’re going to […]
Jennifer
My father isn’t Superman. He doesn’t wear shiny Spandex and a cape, he can’t fly. If he could, he would be out of there. Out of there immediately, flying up and out into the clean air. The nursing home where my father lives is now crawling with Covid-19. Thirty-eight cases and counting, ten of those […]
Spleen, I’m so sorry I let you go. It was some years ago, now, and I was in surgery for a thing that looked like pancreatic cancer, but, thankfully, wasn’t. You may recall what happened, that I had a truly unusual autoimmune response in a neighboring organ–a sort of fishnet tissue growth took over the […]
Day 111 a.m. Dear Diary, Well, the freezer and pantry are PACKED! I have enough frozen spinach and canned beans to last me into the next century. Time to settle in for the long haul! 2:00 p.m. I could swear I bought way more coffee than this. 4 p.m. Heading to 7-11 for stringcheese and […]
For the love of trees and their leafy kin, and with Australia’s horrendous fires on my mind, here’s a piece I wrote a few years ago about the surprising capabilities of plants that make their burning especially sad. Meanwhile, researchers continue to uncover remarkable details about plants’ lives, as in this report about their (almost […]
Gosh darn it, right now I have so many big questions about what’s happening in the world, and there seem to be so few good answers that it makes me want to shut down and hide under the bed. Not to sound negative. But I think you’re right there with me, yes? And so, I’d […]
Under institutional lighting, the chopped chicken in BBQ sauce is like oily pet food on a doughy white bun, and its juice runs into the glistening orange fruit from a can and the scoop of too-sweet slaw that nobody ordered. The woman across the table, Linda, who has a Scottish accent and is a low […]
It is crushing to see my dad in the nursing home. Life is so small there, the food so terrible, the residents so…out of sorts. One woman continually calls for help—a tiny voice in some faraway room, ignored for crying wolf; one man walks the halls with glazed eyes and drool dripping down his chin. […]