artificial light
Working in a call center isn’t exactly your dream career, but it’s also one of the few options in your small hometown for someone with no college degree.
Following the Trail
On my way to the airport in the blue-black predawn hours, I set a simple intention for this trip: stay curious.
Field Trip
Sitting beside each other feels more like muscle memory than conscious choice.
The Hungry Season of Growing Up
She made it seem like you didn’t need permission to write about all the messy, beautiful, mundane aspects that make up a life.
Space
The superstitious part of me wondered: Is this a sign? Am I making a mistake?
Burn
Sometimes the body forgets to keep the score.
Threshold
We’d spent nearly two decades building this life together, and now I was slowly dismantling it, one coffee cup at a time.
Luxuries
The line between needs and luxuries blurred, then disappeared.
Meander Like a River
Untethered from the corporate world for the time being, I could now become the kind of person who books a trip to a tiny town in the middle of the desert to write with a bunch of people she’s never met.
Ask a MUTHA: Reproductive Rights
Every pregnant person deserves the right to bodily autonomy.
Leave the Flags at Half-Staff
It’s been two decades since Columbine, and despite it all—Sandy Hook, Parkland, and whatever’s next, for there will be a next time—we, as adults, are still failing these students.
Chasing Respectability
That night at the restaurant, I entered new teen-mom territory: the waitress thought I was my son’s date.
Trading Places: Small Town Girl, Big City Dreams
The thought of leaving my hometown didn’t scare me as much as the regret I might feel if I stayed.
My Three Strays: Learning to Love Feral Cats on Their Terms
The volunteer told me, not unkindly, that cats like the ones I’d found on my patio are usually unadoptable.
Driving Lessons
It’s hard to reconcile this lanky kid in the driver’s seat, broad-shouldered and long-legged, with the sweet-smelling, fuzzy-headed baby who used to fit neatly into the crook of my arm.
On Not Waiting
The only place I saw girls like me represented was on daytime talk shows and after-school specials.
How I Went From Gym Class Dropout To Half-Marathon Runner
I wanted to fast forward to the end, when I’d be a real runner and it would all suddenly be easy.
The New Kid on the Playground
As a teen mom, I knew that my feeling of belonging to this universal motherhood club was often a one-way street.
You Sure Do Look Young: Reflections on Teenage Motherhood
As I left that appointment, my aspirations deflated like my graduation-party balloons.
Houses
The shadows were long and the hallways were dark.
