Broken Glasses: A Com3dy of 3rr3s
When I woke up, I reached for my ‘black-flamingo’ glasses and ended up holding two separate halves of one plastic frame.* I knew it would be a bad day. In fact, if I were to label my day, I would …
The Town of Front Royal, VA and Where It Stands on its Constitutional Sands
Over the past year and a half, two groups have held weekly protests in Front Royal. The first group, Vigil for Democracy, launched the protests soon after the election of President Trump. By all accounts, the Vigil for Democracy obtained …
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Nanotechnology: An Examination of Hopelessness, Ray Bradbury-Style
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10504500
By Madeline Phoenix There was a grand rainstorm today; it caused the power lines on our road to collapse, due to the colossal impact of a withered old oak tree. For almost four hours, we were bereft of technology’s ‘affectionate’ …
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Confusion Reigns: Driving and Talking about Everything
Confusion reigns. I glance into the bottom of my mug and swirl the chamomile tea around. I ignore the brown spots on the bottom. They’re from a basil plant that occupied the cheap white mug with the light blue dots …
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Pitching to Agents Part 3: Turning Negative into Positive
After the tough go-round with the last two agents, we talked for at least an hour. I called my mom, Maddie’s biggest fan, and tried to get ahold of my husband, who got back to me after we left the …
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Pitching to Agents, The Throat Punching Aspects, Part 2
As I wrote last week, Maddie and I attended a writing conference where we pitched our books to ten agents. I thought long and hard about how much to share about our personal life, as well as the conference we …
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Pitching Agents: Throat Punches and Better Endings, Part 1
Madeline and I attended a Writer’s Workshop in Minneapolis this weekend and it was probably the most momentous, exhausting, oddly wonderful two days we will spend in quite some time. We’re back home now, settled back into the routine of …
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Van Crashes Into Our Yard
So it’s Friday night and we’re driving home from Northern Virginia. It’s an ordinary night in most ways. Like any other Friday night after we’ve dropped the kids off for a visit with their father. We didn’t go straight home; …
When Red Tape Blocks Neighbors from Helping the Homeless
Kathy Leonard (l), Vicki Davies, Michelle Smeltzer, Pam Williams and Roni Evans led the discussion at Thursday’s thermal shelter meeting.
Photo Credit: Jen Avery
The community I live in, Front Royal, Virginia, has a large problem with homelessness. And with the record cold temperatures we’ve been facing over the past few weeks, the non-profits who work the problem of homelessness as well as several …
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An Ice Storm that Can’t Kill 10,000 Hours
Ice glistened on the slabs that rose out of the front yard. The driveway was wet but not slippery because we put salt down in the afternoon, but we couldn’t salt the rocks, so they bore the marks of the …