She was five when I first met her. Hiding behind her mother, who was wearing a forest green robe and slippers. They weren’t expecting visitors, but here we were, pulling up in a dirty burgundy Buick. A time before cell phones, a time of surprises, what’s forty-five minutes out of the way? Let’s try it, […]
Nonfiction
Stories Can Save Us
The carpet in the San Mateo Marriott Airport Hotel is a pattern of geometric beige and grey shapes, impervious to dirty loafers and rolling suitcases. Someone designed this carpet, I think as I rush through the lobby. This shall be our carpet, someone declared. I am late to the conference. The marching band is finishing […]
Instructions: Spa Locker Room
Do not be alarmed by the soft sound of Tibetan bells. The Spa Locker Room music is here to relax you. You may or may not have been given a tour of the locker room by a woman with a top bun in a black polo shirt. Either way, you will not be able to […]
Instructions: Gray Hair
The first step towards having gray hair is to stop dyeing your hair. Highlights, lowlights, permanent color, temporary washouts, henna, lemon juice, beet extract, all of it. Stop dyeing your hair. You might start telling yourself that you look washed out or sluggish. Go for a walk or buy a bright lipstick at Walgreens. These […]
To The Memory Of Lily Allen-Hughes
“Why don’t we remember everything?” I am driving up Clarendon, past the park that’s on the side of a cliff, the one with the steep wooden staircase. Clarendon Street in San Francisco is what my father used to call, “a good street to know.” It takes you to the Haight without driving down Lincoln, and […]