In Defense of Women’s Muscles
Weight lifting for mental health
Category: Daily Freakouts
Exclusive! Interview with Depression
If depression could speak: An interview with Depression
Fake Grapes
I was in the health food aisle of the supermarket yesterday, amongst the cans of beans, tomatoes prepared in various ways, and pre-made soups, when an unexpected image popped into my head: a vibrant green leaf, made of glass. It was just a fragment, but I thought I recognized it:…
Inadequate or Not Enough
(Part of my writing prompt series for my October 50,000 word challenge) Do you know that commercial for the eyelash growing drug? It’s for people with “inadequate or not enough lashes.” It always makes me wonder, do they mean to say that inadequate and not enough are two different states…
Writing Prompt: First Lesson
Since I’m on an epic quest: 50,000 words in 31 days, approximately 1620 words per day, I thought I’d share a writing prompt, in case anyone else out there is looking for inspiration for your own writing practice. Reading Patricia Hampl’s essay “Memory and Imagination” this morning, I pondered stories…
Memoir Month: 50,000 Word Challenge
November, as you may be aware is National Novel Writing Month, an idea that has irritated me since I first heard about it. The notion that novels are written by doggedly churning out (crappy) prose to meet a prescribed word count–preposterous! It’s pretty much the polar opposite of what we…
The Naked Truth
I think it happened this way: I am sitting high up in the salon chair, covered in a black vinyl cape from my neck past my sneakered feet. George, former stylist to the stars, and I consider my hair in the mirror, contemplating a new style. Maybe I am in…
There’s No Crying in Whitewater
“How’s your day going?” I asked a new canoeing friend, R, as he pulled into the eddy. My class, the more experienced solo boaters, had already scouted Staircase Rapid, just below. From the boulders on the shore we’d picked our lines and were heading back to our parked boats as…
Facebook Freakout
Facebook is a world of freakouts, and this is coming from a person who knows freakouts intimately. A few nights ago, for instance, I got no sleep, terrified that the clunk sound outside and the motion detector light in the backyard meant a guy from a TV crime drama was…
Backyard Practice
“How did you get so good at that?” a woman at the river festival asked me as I twirled a glowing LED hoop around my shoulders. It was a compliment, but I could tell it was also a real question. “Practicing in my backyard,” I said. She backed away, apparently…
