“Scoot together and say cheese!” I said, pointing the camera in their direction. The girls scrunched their bodies closer, chocolate dripping from their chins, doing their best to control their silliness long enough for a quick photo. It was the …
The Day I Got Schooled by Maya
I met Maya Angelou in New York at an event for the last book she wrote, Mom and Me and Mom, in 2012. I waited for about an hour in line to meet her and as I was waiting, I was …
The Unfurling
He’s looking at me with that look in his eyes, the one that holds the monsoon. The tears are coming, the fit, the fight. I think about just giving in, giving him another snack before dinner. I see his lips …
How Homeschooling Turned Me Into a Writer
The smell of ancient paper still makes me want to sob, the way spines line up like soldiers on the wooden shelves of small-town libraries. I know they would defend me if they could, those armies of words. I grew …