The Dying Woman We Drove Past
A battle for life in a strip mall parking lot We were heading home from a graduation party, along a route we’ve driven a thousand times before, past gas stations, car repair shops, a supermarket with its satellite storefronts ranged around a yawning parking lot. On the opposite corner is a drugstore, a deli, and a barbershop, their smaller parking lot separated from the street by a low berm planted with sparse grass and a few struggling shrubs. It’s the kind of scenery you drive past without consciously registering it, a commercial landscape that remains invisible until you need to pop…
I Can See Clearly Now
Widening my window of tolerance — and why we all might want to Recently, I went through a round of telemedicine talk therapy. It had been a long winter, and I’d been struggling with a pattern of self-defeating thoughts. But once I found myself heading down a spiral of feeling bad for feeling bad, I recognized it was time to take action. This was my first experience with phone therapy Not to be confused with phone sex, this is a treatment delivery method that’s become increasingly popular, especially since the pandemic. It offers at least one distinct advantage over traditional…
What Were You Thinking?
My 13 stupidest moments, ranked People who know me think I’m smart. And by standard measures — academic grades, SAT scores, the intelligence tests I didn’t even know I was taking in early elementary school — they’re correct. I am genuinely interested in people, which leads to a fortunate tendency: At social gatherings, I’m more interested in finding out about other people than talking about myself. People tend to come away with a favorable impression of my wits just because I genuinely listen to them. The reality is that I can be breathtakingly, jaw-droppingly dim. As in dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers stupid. Luckily,…
How a Grieving Daughter Created Mother’s Day
And why she later tried to get it abolished In 1876, at the age of 12, Anna Jarvis attended her mother’s Sunday school She listened raptly to the stories of mothers from the Bible, and particularly as her mother, Anne Reeves Jarvis, uttered a simple, fervent prayer: “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.” Born in 1832, Anne Reeves Jarvis bore twelve children, or thirteen depending on some sources. But the records agree that of…
Mystery Backyard Beast!
A strange creature is stalking Boise A UFC has been captured on film near where I live Last week, while checking my local Nextdoor feed — no doubt you’re familiar with Nextdoor.com, the app that allows you to exchange neighborhood gossip online — I came across a video posted by someone in our ‘hood. Captured by their movement-sensitive security cam, the UFC (Unidentified Furry Critter) ambles across their backyard before disappearing into the murk of an early spring night. The first time the contributor posted, there were myriad responses. All were politely rejected by the poster, who had seen the…
The First Woman to Vote for U.S. President Was A One-Eyed Stagecoach Driver
Who everyone thought was a man Note: this article was originally published in History of Women on Medium.com. You can also listen to a slightly revised version on the episode of my blogcast, Here’s A Thought, released on April 19. I find this story remarkable enough to post here as well — and since so much of my time right now is taken up with fostering a special-needs puppy, whatever writing I manage to get done has to do double (or triple) duty! I’m a sucker for Old West stories. I haven’t missed a single episode of the TV show Yellowstone…
Hey, Boomer! Stop Saying That
Five phrases to remove from your vocabulary right now If you’re a Boomer too, congratulations Welcome to the club, and I mean that wholeheartedly. But now that you’re here, there are five conversational gaffes you need to purge from your speech if you don’t want to be discounted by everyone in Gen X and below. If any of these phrases have found their way into your thinking process, it may be understandable, but it’s crucial that you strangle them into silence before they escape your lips. 1. Years ago When my husband and I vacationed at a resort in the same…
The Weirdest Test You’ll Ever Have
If you’ve been referred for a sleep study, here’s what to expect My preparations for bed have taken nearly an hour My sleep technician, a calm and confident woman with a 50s family sitcom-motherly vibe, has carefully attached a complex network of electrodes to my wrist, chest, and abdomen, their slender wires snaking down one leg and attaching at my ankle. Sensors are positioned inside my nostrils; a pulse oximeter gently squeezes my left index finger. More electrodes are attached to my head. Each one erupts in another wire, forming a particolored cascade of electronic spaghetti which my technician refers to…
Here’s Why Things Are Going to Get Even Weirder
AI is a Genie With No Bottle Feel like you can’t keep up with the pace of change? It’s not you, and it’s not your age. Sure, you and I might not have yet mastered TikTok while our kids have already moved on to Likee or some other app we’ve never heard of. Maybe you’re still tiptoeing around Twitter while its disgruntled users are bailing out in favor of Mastodon or something else with a learning curve that makes you want to take a nap instead. Don’t worry about it. Human experience is about to plunge into a phase that nobody…