Elaine Benes. Nineties feminist icon. Terrible dancer. Urban sombrero-wearer. Sponge-worthy decider and a no bullshit-giver-or-taker. In one Seinfeld episode, Elaine gets asked by her friends, Beth and Arnie, to be a character reference in their adoption case. She lets it slip with the agency officer that once when they were all at a movie, Arnie lost his temper with Elaine because she wouldn’t stop talking … Continue reading Old Yellers: Men’s Anger
The father squatted down on the patch of mud and dead grass. The little boy, maybe five or six, stood beside him, watching closely as his father pushed the metal legs of the stand into the soft earth, which in January should have been bedrock. The father straightened up, stepped back, placed his hands on his hips to survey what they had just planted: a … Continue reading Do Better
The green wreath tacked to the back of the wooden bench was no bigger than a dinner plate. A note card fixed next to the wreath, lacquered over in tape, read: Please do not remove this wreath. It is for my late husband to whom this bench is dedicated. I glanced to the right of the card to see a thin, gold plaque bearing … Continue reading Benched
Reporter Alex Bozarjian, a journalist with the NBC News affiliate out of Savannah, Georgia, was broadcasting live from an annual holiday charity race when a runner named Tommy Callaway slapped her on the behind as he jogged past. A quick poll of long-distance runners reveals that this is completely acceptable, totally normal behavior when you’re pushing your body to its limits, keeping your eyes peeled … Continue reading Unlearn
I had no idea why Dad was so grumpy. They were just leaves–piles of them that he had spent the last hour raking onto a big, blue tarp and hauling off into the woods at the edge of our yard. While my father raked, my brother and I chased each other around the yard, diving, jumping, and rolling around in those same piles like a … Continue reading A Little Light in Fall
