Newsy! Hello, Gorgeous + Obsessively Good Green Beans + Season Of The Witch (v. 22)
November 10th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Hello, Gorgeous
A few months back, I was sitting in the sunshine on a bench in my local town square, noodling back and forth about a project idea with one of my favorite partners in creativity. The project involved, among other things, writing, photography and video. At one point, as part of a “readability” test, I pulled out a black Sharpie and wrote three words in all caps on the back of my business card:
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL Read more
Consider this:
The Circle Game
When our guests arrived for dinner last weekend, my friend and fellow mom had tears in her eyes. “My dad’s in the hospital,” she said, red eyes filling again. “I just got off the phone with my mother on the East Coast.”
My pal paused, then grasped for more words to explain her fragile state.
“It sounds so stupid to say this,” she told us. “But one day my parents are going to die.”
I know, sweetie, I know. Read more
Newsy! Like Me, If You Dare + Roasted Broccoli + The Accidental Life (v.20)
October 27th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Like Me, If You Dare
This essay you’ve just started reading – what do you think about it so far? Do you like it, or do you “Like” it? Would you Forward it or Share it? Might you go so far as to Recommend it? In our world of click-based ego, I’m as guilty as the next poster – I mean, person – when it comes to obsessively checking for responses to something I post. Even with my barely-there online presence, I find myself jones-ing for the delicious dopamine rush that follows a friendly comment or a kindly share. Read more
Newsy! How To Impress A Teenager + Black Russian Cake + God’s Hotel (v.19)
October 20th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
How The Heck Do You Impress A Teenager?
Our family recently saw the Tony-award-winning show, Hedwig and The Angry Inch. Do you know the story of Hedwig? It’s about a beautiful, troubled young man who escapes grim East Berlin courtesy of a sex change operation that gets botched (what’s left is the “angry inch”) and leaves “him” navigating life as “her” in America’s Midwest. Technically, the show is a musical, but that’s like describing a nine-course meal at Napa’s French Laundry as a snack. Read more
Newsy! Get Back In Whack + Shrimp Paulista + The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo (v.18)
October 13th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Get Back In Whack
A good friend of mine is out of alignment. It’s not a spinal issue. If she had a chiropractic problem, she’d make an appointment and get it fixed. My pal’s misalignment is more complicated – and, potentially, more debilitating. Seems she’s currently out of spiritual alignment. Creative alignment. Professional, physical and emotional alignment, too.
The girl is out of whack. Read more
Newsy! To Sleep, Perchance (But Probably Not) + Apple Crisp + The Silkworm (v.17)
October 6th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
To Sleep, Perchance (But Probably Not)
Every night for the past week, I’ve had a hot date at 3:00 a.m. sharp. It’s not with my husband. It’s not even with another person. The date for which I’m sometimes early but never late is with an inanimate object glowing red on my bedside table: my alarm clock.
Did I say glowing red? Glaring red is more accurate. Read more
Newsy! Gentlemen: Please Stop Hijacking My Time + Ham and Egg Breakfast Muffins + Kitchen (v.16)
September 28th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Gentlemen: Please Stop Hijacking My Time
Last week, I found myself in a hostage (or, at least, hostile) situation. Fortunately, my life wasn’t being hijacked – just my time. The perpetrator? A dad – I’ll call him The Dad – at my kid’s Back To School Night. His M.O.? Interrupting the teacher’s lively, informative and impressive B2SN presentation with a lecture about Google’s intolerable (in his mind) copyright infringements. Read more
Newsy! Coffee, Tea Or Me + Chocolate Chip Banana Bread + The Sage of Waterloo (v.15)
September 22nd, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
If This Isn’t The Best Cup Of Coffee I’ve Ever Had, I Want A Divorce
(This essay originally appeared in the Marin Independent Journal)
For the past few weeks, my husband has been on a quest to make the best cup of coffee this side of the equator (the actual equator, not the coffee shop in my downtown Mill Valley). He’s on a mission to buy a coffee machine that will brew java so delicious he’ll bound out of bed an hour before the alarm buzzes just to savor his steaming breakfast beverage. As a result, he’s been measuring, weighing, pouring, calculating, calibrating and tracking water and beans like a mad man. Read more
Newsy! Floored: A Fainter’s Guide + Meatloaf + Another Brooklyn (v.14)
September 15th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Floored: A Fainter’s Guide To Life Without Trigger Warnings
Not long ago, the University of Chicago announced it does not support professors giving advance notice – known these days as “trigger warnings” – about potentially difficult or upsetting material in their classroom.
While I don’t disagree with this decision, I gotta’ say this: Throughout my life, I could have benefitted from a trigger warning or thirty. Getting a head’s up about ensuing violence, blood and gore (both real and imaginary) would have saved me from spending an undue amount of time lying on some really dirty floors. Read more
Newsy! Gotcha’ Kombucha? + Strawberry Mint Kombucha + Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits (v.13)
September 8th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Gotcha’ Kombucha?
I know I’m coming to the kombucha party a little late.
The first time I had this fermented, slightly vinegary drink was this past summer at my friend Liz’s farmhouse in Vermont. She handed me a tall glass of her homemade kombucha on the rocks, a handful of plump blueberries floating around in the tea-colored brew. “You’ll like it,” she promised, seeing the tentative look on my face. Read more
