hootenannie

Yesterday I watched salmon attempting to swim upstream, launching their bodies out of the water and heaving themselves over the rapids, only to hit a boulder and be slapped back down. It reminded me of being in my 30s. Technically, I’m still in my 30s for a few more days. But staring down the big…

I smelled it before I heard it, and I heard it before I saw it. Still miles from the water and beneath a canopy of trees, the scent reached me first: salt, and the sharp brine of seaweed. Then came the far-off white noise, faint at first but, as I grew closer, steadily separating into…

[I just found this as a draft in a forgotten file. Without any edits, I thought I’d share it today.] ::::: I throw the car from sixth gear down to fourth; there is no time for fifth. The engine revs, then catches and begins to pull, once again able to accelerate up the incline. Forty…

I woke up nervous, 5:30 A.M. on a Saturday, no alarm necessary. I had a plan to take my bike on a new route this morning, but suddenly, I was positive that in the process I would be killed. “Hey, this is kind of dark, but I’m going on a bike ride this morning and…

I once was dealt a major injustice. It was all I could think about, all I could talk about; the fact that this person did me so wrong and got away with it with seemingly no consequences ate me alive for years. Literally, for years. One day I was on a hike, raging at the…

I spent 10 years as a slow but committed distance runner, which is to say I spent 10 years learning to divorce my brain from my body. Forcing myself to think about anything but the physical discomfort, I’d put my legs on autopilot and just go. There’s much to be said for grit, and it…

It’s easy to think that creativity must equal utter originality; after all, this is how the world usually spins it to us. The ones known as “artists” are the ones who magically conjure up something entirely new seemingly out of thin air – which is why I never understood the whole Andy Warhol thing. So…

Last year, I took part in Lore Wilbert’s amazing Writing Mentorship program. She just announced that she’ll be hosting another round beginning March 8. As I reflect on 2018, which was for me a ferociously difficult year, I recognize this course as having been a pivotal part of my healing process, not to mention some…

The recipe calls for a half cup of chopped red onion. I stand over the cutting board with the sharpest knife I could find in the drawer, carefully dicing layers of nested, tear-inducing rings. I do not like to cook. Years of living alone have made dinnertime mostly irrelevant, because to me, the intentional preparation…

*taps mic* Is this thing on? I’m back! It’s been six months since I’ve posted anything in this space — longer than any other stretch of silence in the almost 12 years I’ve kept this site. Some people insist blogging is dead, but I’m here to say WANNA BET? As long as I’m living, so…