When George Floyd was murdered, Midway burned.I know it’s close to my home because I shop there, but I know it’s NOT close to my home, because the flames never reached me. I met Iris Logan right after we moved here, walking down her street after shopping at Goodwill. She was close to the flames,…
Category
Life
People Who Died
Yesterday, my friend Margaret threw a party. It was mostly because she wanted to have people over to eat chocolate and play cards, but it was nominally to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my sobriety. It was really nice. She baked a cake. My friend Julia had given me flowers for Thanksgiving, maybe because she…
On Laurie Anderson, Diane di Prima, Caretaking, Womanhood, and Loss
I really do love Facebook memories, because they are the scrapbook I wander through daily in my tattered Miss Havisham dress, visiting my past lives. Today my digital memory recalled that it’s the 10th anniversary of Lou Reed’s death. I loved Lou, but this milestone is interesting to me because for the past week I…
“You should write a book!”
I hurl so much unsolicited writing into the world, and in return have often heard: “you should write a book!” I usually take this to mean “wow, you write…a LOT. Shouldn’t you put it somewhere?” So for years I’ve chosen to receive that comment as kindness but didn’t think much else of it. I had…
A Day In Many Lives
First: my child. My precious child. My precious child is in Los Angeles, thrilled to be clear of the whirring helicopter blades of his hovering mother. The mother is thrilled that a healthy teenage balance has been restored, after a few years of developmentally staccato clinging codependent enmeshment, about which we had no choice because…move…
Feliz Cumpleaños, America
I feel very American this year. Not because the midwest more closely resembles the right’s “great” fantasy of a lost paradise for white people, but because before I got here, after 21 years in Los Angeles, I was ignorant enough to believe that diversity was a coastal phenomenon. I was remembering the Buffalo I grew…
Book Bits
As I have mentioned to friends and colleagues, I’m working on a book. When asked what it’s about I’ve been saying “private education, in Buffalo specifically – the promises it makes and the mechanisms it employs to encourage class mobility or stasis. So far it’s part memoir, part creative non-fiction, part journalism.” I often share…
Why here, why now?
My father is a critic & journalist, and my mother was a writer & English teacher.
One of my grandfathers sold suits, the other Cadillacs.
Perhaps as a result of this genetic pressure…I write.
When I do it for money, it’s usually because I’m helping someone sell something.
I also write to connect, to entertain, to clarify things (for myself and sometimes others), and because it’s just what I do every day. My content tends to follow form: I’ll sweat over each syllable in a 10-second promo, or slap a long-read up on Facebook so I can discuss something I care about with people I love and respect.
The good news is that I love getting feedback and notes, because I thrive in collaboration with other people who are great at what they do.
I grew up in Buffalo, became a playwright at SUNY Albany, and eventually moved to Los Angeles to work in television. There I met my first spreadsheet, which was the start of a beautiful long-term relationship.
After 21 years in L.A., I followed my wonderful husband to Minnesota, where his work has been a great success, and mine continued remotely as planned. I even worked through the pandemic, for which I consider myself very lucky. Our son is in a good school and things are pretty sweet.
But my life has changed, my industry has changed, and the world has changed. I’m looking to do something new (or do what I do in a new environment.)
I’m honestly not sure what that will look like yet, but my preference is for it to be here, in Minnesota, where my family and feet are.
In the meantime, this site will track my progress and feature my work, which falls into a few categories:
- Television marketing, promotion, etc.
- Criticism & essays
- The book I’m working on, examining the role of private education in American class mobility.
I’m always so grateful to be read, by anyone in any form, and so I thank you for being here.
If you’re so inclined…watch this space.