Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
My mother’s death was a shock at first. And then it was a relief. She was diagnosed with bone cancer on March 9, 2012. She died in the last minutes of March 21. How long she had had the bone cancer, her doctor would not suppose. What was known was Read more
This interview is the first time Sandy Arias has spoken publicly about her daughter Jodi Arias. Sandra Dee Allen was born in 1958 in a small Northern California town. I love to call her Sandy Dee. It fits, somehow. I met Sandy at Jodi Arias’s sentencing trial, in September 2014. She Read more
Well, this is absolutely going to ruin my love of all things lemon, I thought as I held a lemon swab in my mom’s mouth for her. This seemingly benign, care-taking piece of her cancer meds pack. Fresh, sweet lemon scented the air for a moment, but for once in Read more
Well, hello there old geezer! I hope you’re somewhat sane and still alive 20 years from now so you can fully absorb every word of this letter. Otherwise, someone will translate it into small, bite-sized pieces so your senile, rickety old mind can understand it. If you’re already dead, a Read more
(for the Goddess & Kay) The scent of cinnamon, brown sugar, & sweet butter slide up my nostrils like an entire childhood. It is the closest thing to heaven I can think of. I disappear into high school days, God searching days, free verse days. I disappear on my old Read more
Part 3 of a 3 part series. After interviewing my mother, reading through the archives of my memoirs, taking note of the dark memories that quietly play in the back of my mind like an old French noir film, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve hit a plateau, with Read more
Collateral damage. The most accurate way to describe how I have come to this point in my life. To know how it feels to exist in a space I wasn’t wanted. To be born into a world I was never meant to be in. My entire existence is wrapped around Read more
In October of 1988, a neighbor of mine lost her husband in a freak car accident. I first heard the news in a conversation with my son’s teacher. “Did you hear about that accident the Friday night before Halloween? The most bizarre thing—a deer hit the car and went right Read more