Category Archives: Guest writer

First Outing After the Pandemic

By Pat LaPointe I’ve never felt more excited about going out. Nineteen months inside. “OOH, my black stilettos. I can hardly wait to wear them again.” Shoe: “I shouldn’t care. If you want to break your neck, it’s your choice”. … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | 1 Comment

Three Strikes

By Kurt Baumann This is the second in a two-part post about Kurt’s life of prayer. To read the first, click here. When I was twenty, I was in a hotel room, thinking about how to end my life. The … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | Leave a comment

Handle with Prayer

By Kurt Baumann This post is the first in a two-part series. In one of Bil Keane’s Family Circus cartoons, Billy, the oldest son, is doing homework, and asks: “What is the greatest power?” Each one of the characters has … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | Leave a comment

Ingratiating Mother-In-Law or Chutzpah Unleashed?

By Marlene Samuels I’d been married for three years during which time my husband and I had been renovating our house almost constantly. Although a magnificent brick and limestone structure built in1882 complete with copper spires and massive leaded windows, … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | Leave a comment

Joyful Noise

By Pat LaPointe. This COVID-era essay first appeared on Story Circle Network. “Please, God. Make them quit crying” was my prayer as one preemie twin would wail, and the other twin soon join her in her less-than-melodious sounds. “Can’t you … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | Tagged | 2 Comments

My Father’s Words

By Virginia Amis We waited in the formal living room, many women dressed in light summer dresses that showed toned and tanned arms, men in slacks and linen jackets.  Elaine and Bill had invited us to share a magnum of … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | 2 Comments

Barbecue Bellbottoms

By Marlene Samuels It was 1980 and although I’d been in the Ph.D. program for one week, I spotted him on day one. His good looks and muscular physique were total contradictions to that academic “geek” stereotype. Without a doubt, … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | 2 Comments

Mailbox

By Virginia Amis I sometimes think about what happened on that winter day in 1966. The day’s air stung my ten-year-old cheeks even though I’d bundled up with a hat and scarf.   I stood on the sidewalk, facing the front … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | 2 Comments

Anniversaries

By Joshua Feyen The Moth is a storytelling event-based non-profit founded in 1997 in New York City by friends who missed the feeling of sultry summer evenings in the South, where friends would gather to spin tales while moths swarmed … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | Tagged | Leave a comment

Reverse Jacks

By Virginia Amis We mingled in groups, some whispering, others laughing openly, then catching themselves.  The banquet room windows allowed a view of oak and spruce trees growing on undulating hills where paths wound and disappeared.  Someone remarked that the … Continue reading

Posted in Guest writer | 2 Comments