I’m using your interview to teach my grandson how to be a good person — Dear Garrison, I caught your interview this week on CBS Sunday Morning. I was looking forward to a nostalgic look at Lake Woebegone, and fond memories of my time in the Twin Cities. That was back when I believed in you. …

My brief, instructive, and torturous bout of standup comedy — In the early nineties, when my life was overwhelmingly intense and chaotic, I did a crazy thing: I took a community ed class in standup comedy. As if raising daughters, traveling for the state health department, and creating a relationship with my partner out of whole cloth wasn’t enough, I…

It’s not you, it’s me (Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #22) Tech bloggers and Instagram fanatics tell me that the Christmas letter is, like, “so over.” A quaint, antiquated, useless custom. Or worse yet, déclassé. They use phrases like “back in the day” or “retro,” and they don’t mean charming or…

How to Talk to An A##hole Without Losing Your Sh*t — Two summers ago I was preparing a TEDx talk. I was trying to make the case that civility is worth something. Sometimes, worth everything. I was discussing my plan with longtime writing friends in a Facebook chat. “What do you think people need to hear?” I asked. “I want to…

Compassionate Enterprise in the Next Generation (Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #6) My granddaughter has started a business: Eleanore’s Pet Care Place. She promises excellent care for the dear, fur-covered family members of our island neighbors. So far she has two customers — me and my neighbor, Mary. It was Girl…

The Four Skills Nursing Taught Me for Navigating Life — I’ve been a nurse for forty years. I can’t help knowing what I know. And I have been a lot of kinds of nurses over that time: psych nurse, public health nurse, nurse educator, and nurse manager. (I have not been an operating room nurse, an emergency room nurse, or…

When changing the smoke detector battery threatens your future — The Noise 7:30 p.m. Anne and Kate hear a loud, startling *BANG* close at hand. Agree it must be fourth of July neighborhood hoodlums. Thirty seconds later, smoke detector starts chirping. Loud. Annoying. Every eighteen seconds. Kate pauses TV streaming (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and says, “Crap. I think the 9-volt battery…

Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #8 — For the first thirty years of my life I was straight. I dated (and married) men. In high school I was crushing on the boys with the best of them. My ambitions were pretty much identical to most of my friends’ — gonna grow up and marry a guy and…

And Why We Should All Sit Down — Part 1: The Conversation Conversation with my granddaughter on Friday, May 27, 2022: “Meema, did you hear what happened?” “About the school children?” She nods. “I did. What did you hear?” “My mom told me. She said that some of my friends might be talking about it, so she wanted me to know. …