My former student, Sarah Humway, wrote this post as an essay for English Comp I class last fall. I loved it and asked if she'd allow me to share it with all of you. She agreed. Thank you, Sarah! The most influential person in my life was not only someone who could pick me up… Continue reading Mimi’s influence
I found myself whispering, too, even though I wasn’t the one hiding in a closet while a drunken man beat on the door. “Bridgett, it’s okay. You’ll be okay. You do not have to answer that door. DO NOT answer the door, okay?” Bridgett cried snotty tears on the other end of the phone. “But… Continue reading Say yes
Lizard, Thank you for breaking me in back when I turned 22. There was nothing Taylor Swift about it. Your dad and I tied the knot three weeks after I graduated from college and three weeks after my birthday, and I frantically searched for employment while serving as your stepmom. I felt like I was… Continue reading Teaching me to mother
As I gear up to go back to work full-time this fall, transitioning from an adjunct instructor to a full-time English instructor, I find myself fluctuating between excitement and eager anticipation and anxiety and grief as I let go of this period of my life--the stay-at-home mom phase. No longer will Maggie's cute babbling on… Continue reading For her curls
A wise woman named Mauzelle who managed the Arkansas Methodist Church archives at Hendrix University once told me, as she tried to share her lunch with me while I researched Methodist women in the Ozarks, that she loves history and wants to do everything she can to preserve it. “It’s so important, you see, because… Continue reading Learning to teach
I've said NEVER about plenty of things. And eaten my words plenty of times, too. "I will NEVER get divorced." Done. Twice. "I am NEVER going to be one of those people who moves back to the middle of nowhere as an adult!" Done. Here. "I'm never going to date another alcoholic or addict, EVER!"… Continue reading Never say never
