Our Group Writing Collective Together
by Kirsten Krick Donahoe Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash As the days begin to grow longer, I am reminded of a particular spring morning just a couple of years ago. My family and I were pet sitting our friends’ dog, and I left early before work to a small local park where the dog… Continue reading The Incident
By A Liberal White Woman Photo by Lindsey LaMont on Unsplash Alone in the car on Saturday night, driving to a friend’s house for a porch-side champagne toast, I ugly-cried big tears punctuated by syncopated hysterical gulps, sobs, and laughter. The relief was physical. I felt tension drain away that I had not realized I’d been holding in… Continue reading Villains, Saviors, Bystanders and the White Women Ruining Everything
By Lady Words Contributor Maybe the only way America will defeat Covid-19 will be by force, not military, but something much more fundamental. If two of the institutions that American's wave as flags of our freedoms were to turn their mighty weight on those making funding and policy decisions, maybe the pressure would come to… Continue reading When an Entitled Nation Won’t Help Itself
By Lady Words Contributor I’m writing to inform you that your property has been deemed haunted by the Agency for City Planning and Obstruction. Some administrators may refer to it as bedeviled. Depending on your belief system, you may find demons, ghosts, spirits, open portals, or bad vibes on the land. The prognosis is not… Continue reading To the Planning Department and Back Again
What is your field/job? I manage research and data at a child advocacy nonprofit. We focus on policies and systems that affect children, especially those in poverty and children of color. I gather and analyze data to track child well-being in different regions and for various groups of children throughout the state, share research… Continue reading Interview with Nikki Thomas, PhD, Researcher and Data Analyst
What is your field/job? I am a veterinarian. What lead you to that field/job? When I first started college I thought I would become a human doctor. There are many doctors and nurses in my family and though it was never overtly discussed, I felt like becoming a doctor was expected of me. But the… Continue reading Interview with Dr. Kirsten Krick, Veterinarian
January 30, 2019 By AR Erickson The child’s name has been changed to protect his privacy. “Don’t water the weed”is what the therapist told me when we first started talking about Finn and his drug use. “The Garden of Finn is full of beautiful flowers. They are all being blocked out by the weed, which… Continue reading Don’t Water the Weed
By Lady Words Contributor A chilly day in northern California. The light rain bouncing off the red dirt of the base line. The lonely, cold, and alarmingly spaced-out parent announcer sits in the booth behind a line of main characters in succession: the batter, the catcher, the umpire, and then the blessed wire fencing. Once… Continue reading Ball Count
Life as a family is harder than most of us pictured. The unexpected root canals, the out-of-network therapist, the sports teams your children want to join, the travel you’d like to enjoy together, the sudden death of family across country and the resulting plane tickets; the costs add up. Life in the Bay Area has… Continue reading Can we afford to raise our kids in the Bay Area? Can we be happy anywhere else?
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