Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: dailyprompt
A Herd of Grazing Grudges
Don’t get me started. I never forget an insult or insulting behavior. Forty years ago, a friend of my then boyfriend, now husband, called me a gold digger. Not to my face, to his, but he did, unfortunately, tell me about it. There is… Continue Reading “A Herd of Grazing Grudges”
Banana Flips and Pies in the Face
I learned to dance from American Bandstand but I learned to laugh from Soupy Sales. Soupy Sales was crazy. His skits were wacky and out of control, his two sidekicks, White Fang and Black Tooth, were largely unseen save for their giant paws, and… Continue Reading “Banana Flips and Pies in the Face”
Street Sport Time
Right around dinner time, the boy who lives across the street in a big green housepractices a jump on his skateboard in the middle of the street, oblivious to traffic and people watching from their windows.He is thin and shirtless with bleached blond hair… Continue Reading “Street Sport Time”
Pasta – The Super Food
[Written in response to the question: What is your go-to comfort food?] Penne pasta with garlic, Parmesan, a few green peas, and many tablespoons of butter. The butter is really key here so you can’t start thinking about how it isn’t healthy or will… Continue Reading “Pasta – The Super Food”
Change Makers
That they’re not that far from their lives collapsing That one thing can put them in the ditch. It could be a flat tire on the freeway, a tree branch that’s been waiting to break hit suddenly by the right wind, a virus snaking… Continue Reading “Change Makers”
Sweetness
What was the best compliment you’ve received? This is easy, a gift. A longtime colleague, a person with whom I had done business for many years and with whom I had a catastrophic and very expensive falling out described me to someone as “brilliant… Continue Reading “Sweetness”
Deaf Sounds
What makes you most anxious? One of the great charms of being deaf is not being able to hear one’s own voice. A deaf person can form words and say them, or think she’s said them, but is never quite sure that the words… Continue Reading “Deaf Sounds”
Too Old for Much or Nothing
Is there anything you feel too old to do anymore? Yes. I am too old to get off a horse by swinging my right leg over the saddle while my left foot is in a stirrup, leaning into the saddle from the side, and… Continue Reading “Too Old for Much or Nothing”
Ancient Chicken
What do you complain about the most? Not my most frequent complaint but the most enduring one has to do with my husband undercooking chicken thirty-five years ago. This complaint is now woven into the fabric of our marriage, indeed, it has become a… Continue Reading “Ancient Chicken”
Fun Girl
List five things you do for fun. This is a terrible list. When I die, my obit will be very thin. Expanded, the list would translate to ‘she liked driving aimlessly around town, stopping at unusual markets, like hidden places to buy jars of… Continue Reading “Fun Girl”
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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