When I moved to South Africa, as a small-town girl from Michigan, I was intimidated. I saw myself as an easy victim in a dangerous country. I told myself that I would probably get mugged at some point. Accepting that possibility didn’t make it more or less likely, but it limited the potential of that […]
San Antonio We met at a work conference in Texas. I was the only person from my company at the event, so I had no one to pass the time with and no one to explain myself to. I wanted to meet someone. I didn’t care that it was trite to pick up someone at a conference, […]
In the third lane of the YMCA pool at 8:47 last night, I was treading water, pleasantly buoyant and alone. And though I’ll never know for sure, it occurred to me in that moment: I am the only one swimming in Detroit.
There is one aspect of myself that makes me different. It is not something I would change if I could and honestly I don’t feel that I can. It is noteworthy only because there are more people who aren’t like me than who are. But it is not inherently odd, really it’s just another size […]
First comes everything. Some of what is, I think, some of what I think, I say, and some of what I say, you hear. Each tier, a fraction of the one that came before- a scrap from which we grasp at understanding. What lies within those silent moments, clouded eyes. those “neverminds?” The in-between of what you […]
If there something in your life that hurts more than it helps, that keeps you from yourself: you must end it. For years you told yourself “it’s not that bad”, tolerated its intrusion, found ways to coexist- and so it persisted. You felt you had control, that you were winning the fight. No need for a drastic […]
They say you’re not a real New Yorker until you’ve cried in public.
I know that you are human and that you have depth and that you are infinitely more complex than I will ever have the capacity to comprehend. But. Let’s put that aside for the sake of discussion and pretend that you and I and everyone is just a little blob of energy, emanating out in […]
With thoughts awhir inside my head Unceasingly from dawn till bed I look at you and then, instead, I am still. I thought within my anxious mind, In constant searching I would find But though I sought I was but blind I see you. It seemed that I could earn my truth Life as some […]
Transcript of my Moth Story Hour Submission, Subject: Vices All my life I have been building: making plans, gaining knowledge, forming relationships, accumulating possessions. But for nine years there has been an insidious black mold in the foundation of my life’s structure that undermines everything I pile on top of it. My vice goes by […]
OberDoIt 