“This isn’t the way it was supposed to be.” That’s all Adam Burlingham could say as City of London police, acting on orders from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, shut down his brokerage. “Be careful, you oafs,” he shouted as two officers grabbed the antique stock ticker—his father’s gift, still nestled in its walnut base…
Flash Fiction: The Legacy of the Dance
To my brother George, who gave me a similar statue before he died of cancer back in 2004. Mary Lou Holder sank down next to her brother, the one who was dying of cancer, and started tugging at the bright red bow of the gift he had just handed her. “This is sweet, Jake, that…
Flash Memoir: A Buick, an Embankment, and Grace
This is a story that happened a few years back right around this time of year. I would say this is the very closest I’ve ever come to facing my dying moment – and killing poor Ray in the process. Thank God for a little Divine intervention when we both really needed it. I have…
Be Bold, Be Steady: What My Teachers Have Taught Me
I’ve been thinking lately about the writers who shaped me. My writing path has been a long one—starting with essays, moving into novels, and then finding a home for a while in flash: flash fiction, flash memoir, and flash essay. After my two brothers died of AIDS, I began a memoir that eventually evolved into…
Flash Essay: The Past Five Years
Over the past five years, my life has transformed in some significant ways. First, two and a half years ago, my fourth grandchild was born. This would not be such a huge event (more than the birth of my three other grandkids) but Ethan’s birth helped propel a decision that Ray and I had been…
A Dream Come True: A Book Signing at Book Soup in West Hollywood
I am pleased to announce that I will be doing a reading and book signing for my novel Hope in the Time of Dying at the iconic bookstore Book Soup on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on Wednesday, August 20th at 7 pm. Over the thirty years we lived in Beverly Hills, I dropped…
A Wonderful Video Highlighting My Friend, Jimmy Hughes, from My Church
Jimmy Hughes is a member of my church, St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood. Last Sunday, he told he how much my book Hope in a Time of Dying meant to him, mainly since he had ministered to almost 80 AIDS patients during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He asked me if he could dictate…
The Mother Body: Stories Held in Skin, Softness, and Strength
I used to have a flat stomach. I remember having one at least. I also remember having breasts that were a normal size, not large like I have now, which seem to be the result, at least in part, of seven years of nursing three little girls. Yes, seven. Two, two and three for the…
Where Love Tastes Like Oatmeal
I find it ironic that, considering all the wonderful cakes, pies, and cookies I bake, my grandchildren have one dish that is their very favorite: oatmeal. Yes, plain old oatmeal with a swirl of honey, a splash of cream, and whatever fruits are on hand, which might include fresh or frozen mixed berries, cherries, peaches…
Rethinking the Third Age: Life After 70
When I was born in the early 1950s, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was around 68 years. That number has risen steadily over the decades—today it’s about 78 for the general population, with women living on average to 81 and men to nearly 76. The gap between men’s and women’s life spans is…
20 Minutes a Day 