Articles about Linda
“Ask my family to say the rosary for me, Lin, please,” Grandpa Jim said. My father-in-law’s voice, warmed by a slight Kentucky drawl, a remnant of his birthplace, was fresh in my ear. But his lips had not moved. He lay in a coma, about to die. But I’m only an in-law, I thought, it’s…
Read More...As a young woman, I checked my wild creative nature and sexuality to preserve my cherry. Later, I discovered that the hymen was but a crescent flap of embryonic tissue; a remnant that men and religion imbued with high moral meaning. I had two nicknames in high school: “Miss Advent” and “Sassy.” Translation: irreverent and…
Read More...“Hey, Sandy-Beach-Del, you must be po-or. Your bookbag is, like, trashed, man.” The spin on my last name, Sandel, was typical for the boy, a fellow sixth-grader. My bookbag was a sorry sight, frayed and falling apart. Schoolbags back then didn’t have fancy shoulder straps and lots of zippered pockets. They were satchels, carried by…
Read More...“There is a line of varicose veins on both your legs, mid-thigh,” the woman doctor said, her tone matter of fact. My feet were clutched in the frigid steel stirrups on the gynecologist’s table. My backside felt saran-wrapped against fake leather. Bright white fluorescent lights did not warm the space between my spread legs. Neither…
Read More...“Mama, I can’t breathe,” she said. Ancient and black, ankles spilled over battered sneakers, she raised her arms to the mystery.
Read More...I’m Speaking. Who’s the “I”? Over a year ago, I started “Method Writing” classes with poet and teacher, Jules Swales. The classes are sculpted around writing like you talk.
Read More...An acolyte of practical miracles and the mystical magic of intuition and synchronicity, I hid that from most.
Read More...My pearls were indigo blue. Their color symbolizes justice and wisdom. Before I watched Kamala Harris become vice president of the United States, I clasped my pearls around my neck.
Read More...As I rounded a curve in West Virginia, the sign came into view. It was enormous, plastic, glossy red and blue, and it stretched to cover the side of a half-collapsed barn: TRUMP 2020.
Read More...I was raised in a flat concrete suburb. I live in a flat concrete city. I belong here in this paved world and I am content. But I long for an Appalachian Fall.
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