Connection

stories

for the information age

These bite-sized stories chronicle my efforts, both pitiful and successful,

to navigate the rapidly-changing world.

My hope is that they help you do the same.

Aug 17
1 min

EVERYONE IS FEEDING

On this narrow spit of land, shell fragments fleck the sand—scallop, quahog, whelk. Last night's dishes. A bind of pipers scampers at the...

Dec 23, 2022
1 min

ON A WEDNESDAY MORNING

As I wrap your gift, I have the irrational desire to somehow shield you from the terrible emptiness the holidays can bring. It is an...

Dec 5, 2022
1 min

PLEASE PASS THE BABY

On Thanksgiving, we passed the baby around. We took turns holding her, swaying her in our arms. We ate cheese and crackers, and then we...

Oct 4, 2022
1 min

BEFORE LOVE

If you snip a few of the blooms that grow on the garden edge with sharp shears. If you cut in pursuit of beauty, in the hope of bringing...

Sep 14, 2022
1 min

EMPTY-HANDED

In the bookstore, the fusty scent of ink and pulp. I want to lie down on the floor and breathe in the smell of words. I want to hold the...

Aug 25, 2022
1 min

INTO THE NIGHT

Last night, a cricket was in the house. He made his high-pitched song and I listened from bed. He trilled and he chirped. He was calling...

Aug 19, 2022
1 min

TELL IT AGAIN

As we meandered through Roman ruins, my son told us about the Tetrarchy, the ambition of Constantine, the greed of Nero, the eloquence of...

Aug 3, 2022
1 min

I HAVE DOG-EARED YOU

Sometimes, while I write, I put a pile of books on the table next to me. From time to time, I touch the pile, hoping for some osmosis of...

Jul 28, 2022
1 min

WHEN WE WERE APART

There were no cellphones back then. Back then, when we were apart, we wrote letters to each other. On legal pads, or binder paper. In...

Nov 11, 2021
1 min

SLOW LIFE

I have always been a slow reader. But lately, my pace seems to have slowed even more. One good book can take months to finish. Maybe my...

Oct 28, 2021
1 min

I'VE CHANGED MY MIND

I push the weights up and down on the wobbly workout bench. I notice my body in the mirror—still able, but altered somehow. I look away...

Oct 7, 2021
1 min

THE BODY

When women are together for any period of time, eventually, we talk about our bodies. We talk about our skin, our knees, our hair—so much...

Jul 20, 2021
1 min

VACATION

One summer, we rented a house by the bay. The house was full of spiders and the kitchen smelled of food gone bad. While my husband took...

May 6, 2021
1 min

THE DIM LIGHT OF THE LAMP

It was summer the first time I read James Joyce's novella, The Dead. I read it in that tiny bed by the sea with my husband snoring...

Apr 15, 2021
2 min

THE LIFE WE WANT TO LIVE

In each of my childhood memories, smoke plumes across the scene. My parents smoked in the car, tipped ashes out of the triangular window,...

Mar 26, 2021
1 min

NOCTURNE

All day I wait for night -- the cricket whir, the moonlight, the hush. If daylight belongs to all creatures, night is possessive; it...

Feb 18, 2021
1 min

ZOOM FUNERAL

At the appointed time, hundreds of us log on to the virtual memorial service. We gather to mourn in one another's living rooms, home...

Feb 11, 2021
2 min

IMAGE OVERLOAD

It was a cold winter evening when my future husband and I went to the Met with our figure drawing class. The night was brisk, but inside...

Jan 27, 2021
1 min

FLORIBUNDA

At dusk, when I step outside to get the mail, a half-moon hangs overhead. This is January in California and the year is 2021. The Santa...

Dec 3, 2020
1 min

OUT THERE

We are talking, laughing, nodding, pitching in to a communal hum. All of us. Together. Endorphins are being released with each I know...