by jo | Oct 7, 2015 | Memoir & Essays
The dress is white, sleeveless, summery. The fabric is decorated with large, orangish flowers — daisies maybe — flowers painted in a way to give the dress more a sense of womanhood than girlhood. It falls just below my knees, or at least it did the last time I wore...
by jo | Jul 14, 2015 | Everyday Stories, fitness and health, Memoir & Essays
It’s a weekend afternoon and I’m sitting out in the front yard, looking at my slack line slung between two trees while I write this. I was just on it a moment ago. And again several moments before that. And again several moments before that. That’s how slack...
by jo | May 26, 2015 | Everyday Stories
I wrote this poem almost exactly two years ago about some of the people in my hometown. I have moved away now, but they are still people whose faces light up when they see me in town, who hug me and ask how things are and are willing to hear the honest answers. They...
by jo | Mar 10, 2015 | Everyday Stories
There’s this thing about me (that everyone says, but I don’t believe everyone means it, or knows how to do it): I absolutely love to laugh.I love funny movies. I love funny books. And over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered the joys of stand up comedy....
by jo | Mar 3, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Memoir & Essays
Eleven years. It’s been 11 years since she died. My older sister. Julie. Two years ago on my birthday, I wrote a column about celebrating even when it’s hard, and I talked about when my sister died, and the birthdays that followed. In the piece, there was this line:...