I picked her up at the airport, hollow, practically deserted. “She has Alzheimer’s.” They quickly gave me a pass to meet her at the gate. Calling a sweetheart while I wait, wishing to be drunk. She arrives 80, but girlish, looking happy, lucid and giddy. It’s so easy when she’s…

In 1991, which is quite a long time ago, I moved to Seattle. I knew no one, but my aunt knew a woman who lived in the north in Lake City and let me stay in her basement until I found an apartment. I wasn’t there long, but shared the…

I live in Southern Oregon and I have a very lucky and tender life. I try not to do lifestyle comparison because that’s just a game no one can win, and I tell myself as many days as I can remember how much I have. Food. Shelter. Employment. Friends. A…

When I was younger I’d dream of birth, huge and swollen, reaching down and reeling, feeling the head emerge from me, me pulling the baby out and joyful and tear-streaked in the dream, presenting the child to my mother. She would be so proud. Real life far more real and…