Growing up, if you lived on my side of town, you swam at Rehm Pool – where every hour there was a 15 minute rest period – pure agony – where Superopes were 50 cents and Fireballs were 10, and where if you wanted to dive, or do any sort of trick jump, you went to the diving well with… View Post

I am a Freshman in high school, rushing from the cafeteria to get to my locker, which is three floors above where I am – so I can grab my literature textbook, notebook, and copy of The Odyssey, and then climb one more flight of stairs to get to class. I must do this in five minutes.  I go to… View Post

I am writing this after receiving edits on what might be my third book. As with the first two, the comments will take a while to sink in. I am a writer who knows she is a writer just as she knows she is a mother. I do not suffer imposter syndrome. But, like motherhood, I always wonder if I’m… View Post

    This was the first image Kathrin Burleson created for this project, and I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. First, the word she focuses on is, “humiliation,” and I’m not suggesting that any of these words are easy to sit with but this one conjures up the face I can’t stop from flushing, the tears I don’t… View Post

Another Notre Dame story: Well, maybe it’s a South Bend story. I once told Jesse that this town (meaning South Bend), is a hole. I might’ve also used the word “armpit,” but I’m not sure. It was a long time ago. And so he showed me the library and the Farmer’s Market. He took me to Marcri’s Bakery and bought… View Post