When I was young, I had a deep need to understand the meaning of life. It consumed me. A knot inside that HAD to be untangled. Why was I alive? Why was I me? I believed if I thought about it hard enough, I would figure it out. (Hubris, that!) I knew the answer was […]
What makes a hero? I just read about a marine who disobeyed orders and moved into the line of fire to rescue his fellows. He saved several lives and received a Medal of Honor. That’s a hero, for sure. Just the fact that he endangered himself for others is heroic. But strangely, the “disobeyed orders” […]
A mouse propelled me into crime. I was twelve years old, and I didn’t like what I was seeing . . . or smelling. Most sixth grade science classes use frogs to dissect, but for whatever reasons, our teacher decided on mice, little white mice to be exact, with pink noses, tiny paws, and bright […]
It felt like a blow—what the woman beside me was saying. Questions flicked through my mind: Was this what happened? How could I not remember that? Why did I not remember what had triggered the entire thing? Circa 1980: My partner and I went into a well-known restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama to eat dinner. We […]
Three is a magic number. Can you hear your mother counting down the time left until unnamed but dreadful forces will compel you to do what you haven’t done yet? Your personality might have made you immediately hop to at “1.” Or (like me) you might have waited until the last possible moment before her […]
One day, I looked at an area along the brick walkway in the front of my house and realized I needed to do something extreme. Despite having spread grass seeds more than one season, only weeds grew in the shadow of a magnificent weeping yaupon that arcs over the sidewalk and shaded a crescent-shaped area. […]
Yes, I am Jewish and don’t “officially” celebrate Christmas, but well, I’ll let my husband tell it [except for my added comments, of course.]: “She had me at Dickens. You need a bit of backstory to understand that. During some of my wife’s travels earlier this year, she discovered a Dickens festival in some far […]
We are living history. In 1958, the janitor at Temple Beth-El in Birmingham, Alabama discovered a satchel in the building’s window well with a fuse running from it. Fifty-four sticks of dynamite were in that bag. The fuse had burned out within a minute of igniting it. No one knows what happened, perhaps an early […]
In addition to being a writer, I am a few other things, at least one of which sometimes surprises people. When I was a rookie at the Birmingham Police Academy (many years ago) my Physical Training instructor was a short, 71 year-old man. Despite his age and stature, Mr. Alex Marshall was more than a […]
Early in my marriage, a stepson arrived on my doorstep every other weekend as a troubled 8 year old. A learning disability imprisoned him as poor reader and student to the point that all his tests had to be read aloud to him. He didn’t fit in. He knew it and acted out. Naturally, he […]