Author Archives: first person productions

By Loriann Knapton In our house when I was growing up, you didn’t go to the doctor unless you were A. bleeding to death or B. weren’t breathing. Anything else requiring medical attention was pretty much managed at home. I … Continue reading →

By Violet Suta Moran This essay is an excerpt from Violet’s latest book, Sweetgrass: Growing Up in Montana. One summer, my three sons and their families came to the mountains of Montana for a reunion with the Suta family.  After … Continue reading →

By Renee Lajcak Renee writes both for the page and for performance, adjusting her style for each. “For spoken word, I use shorter sentences, more repetition. On the page, you can be more abstract. For listeners, I keep it visual, … Continue reading →

By Faith Ellestad Ok, I’ll host the party, I guess, it is my turn I put it off for many years,Well, now I’ll feel the burn. Memories of gath’rings past come flooding back in wavesA spicy mix of relatives,Perhaps I’m … Continue reading →

By Loriann Knapton Today I made potato salad. I started with my grandmother’s recipe, passed down from one mother in the family to another. As the small red potatoes cook, I start to chop hard-boiled eggs, celery, and onion, and … Continue reading →

By Janet Manders My owner handed me over to her eight-year-old granddaughter. Actually, that’s not how it really happened. The kid grabbed me. Right out of the tight, protective grasp of the person who typically holds me. During that abrupt … Continue reading →

By Marlene Samuels My Aunt Esther was ecstatic about hosting Thanksgiving dinner that year because it would be the first holiday she and Uncle Ziggy would be celebrating in their brand new, first-ever house. It was a huge departure from … Continue reading →

By Josh Feyen This is part two of a two-part series on a topic we don’t talk about. (Click here to read part one.) Now, I’ll be the first to admit, as a man, I can’t speak from personal experience … Continue reading →