As winter approaches and we close the year, here are some tales of childhood, holidays, love and leaving, and an alley cat. Our writers are: Lisa Hills, Daniel Raskin, Priscilla Jayne, Carol Harada, Ann Kim, Merijane Block, Jennifer Clover Hacker, … Continue reading →

I remember being so grateful for Trumpet of the Swans. I read it when I was eight. I can’t remember the specifics of where I read it or how I found it, just that feeling of profound gratitude that such … Continue reading →

My father drove us—my mother, older brother and me—to the station early Friday morning on his way to work. He was a small-town, general practice lawyer, and I knew he was going to court because he wore a suit and … Continue reading →

The presents were wrapped, sufficiently, leaving space for a few hours’ rest before: “MOMMMM!! Can we get up now?!!” Which generation’s careless tradition the Eve before had plattered the smoked or pickled savories that only adult palates could enjoy? The … Continue reading →

The geyser is reliable, Old Faithful they call it. When it strays, abandoning its timetable, that’s when the earthquakes come calling. That’s what they say. As if regular habits—of a husband, of a geyser—could fool us into feeling the ground … Continue reading →

As Tara lay face down in child’s pose on the spongy green mat, she could smell the faint stench of the countless hippies who had come before her, and she vomited a tiny bit in her mouth. She swallowed the … Continue reading →

I long to leave. Easily, quickly, with little to no preparation. To go from pajamas into jeans and an old friendly sweatshirt, my feet slipped into clogs or flip-flops, a quick brush through my hair—or not—a smoosh of clear gloss … Continue reading →

Brief Synopsis: This is an excerpt from my book, Big Uggo: Memoir of a Stray Alley Cat. Having gone through a metamorphosis of his own, Uggo begins rescuing injured critters, saving a dragonfly named Dip, along with his girlfriend, a … Continue reading →

Santa Silverman went to get the Flomax out of the medicine cabinet. This time of year got him all ferklempt; he had to be (1) a giving elf, (2) a lighter of candles, (3) an eater of milk and cookies, … Continue reading →