When Life is Done, Light Carries On
This past week brought news of the deaths of two key figures in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Ironically, Rep. John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian both died on July 17th after dedicating their lives to pursuing civil…
An Interview with Carrie Anne Noble: Modern Fairytale Queen
In June 2017, I had the pleasure of meeting author Carrie Anne Noble at a writers’ conference. Her second novel, The Gold-Son, was released the week we met. I bought it at the conference, along with her first novel, The…
Summer 2020: Accept, Adapt, and Advance
Two weeks ago, the weirdest, wildest school year ever came to an unceremonious end. Despite sixteen years as a teacher, I was stretched and stressed in ways I couldn’t have anticipated when the year began. COVID quarantine, the death of…
Striking Gold
After spending late winter and all spring as homebodies, our family decided to hit the road this afternoon. It had been far too long since we’d visited Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania. We’ve been countless times in our 25…
Rerouting
Apple Maps is pretty much the best thing ever for road-trippers like us. It’s replaced our clunky old TomTom GPS and has the ability to reroute based on real-time traffic conditions. Our best intentions for a route sometimes change due…
Talk About the Hard Things
This week’s news brought awful stories out of Minneapolis and New York City. Both racially charged. An African American man was killed by police, suffocated on the ground by the side of a police car in Minnesota. In Central Park,…
Invest in Yourself
It’s been picture-perfect here in New Jersey. Warm days, cool evenings, and low humidity have almost fooled me into thinking summer won’t be the normal soup ladleful of mugginess. I know it’s a trick, but I’ve chosen to embrace it…
The Beauty of a New Page
It’s been seven weeks of a radically different lifestyle for everyone. Whether you are an essential worker or are fortunate enough to work from home, things certainly have been different. We have to think carefully before we do things and…
Got Self-Doubt?
No matter who you are, self-doubt creeps in at times. As a writer, I’ve recently been grappling with what’s known as the “muddy middle” of my first novel. The term refers to a spot authors find themselves in when they…
Blooming in Due Time
Yesterday our family hit the highway for the first time in five weeks. Here in New Jersey, we are on a shelter at home order due to the surge in COVID-19 infections in our state. We decided on a drive…
