5 days agoWaking UpSuppose you lived in a pretty how town with good schools and well-established churches. A local industry that employed nearly everyone who hadn’t already found jobs with the local bakeries and auto shops and various small but relatively prosperous businesses scattered here and there. Your children were healthy, kind and…Change5 min readChange5 min read
Mar 14A Date in the LifeMy first job in Chicago was for an outfit run by the mob. My first date in Chicago was with a wannabe mobster. And the first time I was fired was for being on drugs. Maybe it should all have been a sign of some kind. But it wasn’t. …Memoir7 min readMemoir7 min read
Jan 15A Walk in the ParkNow for a sunny little faery story — a faery story, because how could this happen without a touch of faery? — to brighten up your mid-winter blues. A Fairy Tale “Oh, dammit all to …” Adriana Mercer wished she had a typewriter instead of a laptop. Deleting wasn’t nearly good enough for…Short Story31 min readShort Story31 min read
Dec 31, 2022Comfort Ye, My PeopleThese past few years have been putting this country to a test of sorts. On the one hand, the Democratic Party has been all about delivering benefits to the Common Good. On the other hand, the Republican Party has been fighting a rear guard Culture War. Two enormous swathes of…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Nov 29, 2022Saturday Night in the Big City(A Fairy Tale) Once upon a time, a wicked crack dealer lived in a dingy motel room on a bad stretch of road in the lower part of town. His name was Raymond, but everyone who knew him, or knew of him, called him Rayban. His was a dark soul. …Fiction25 min readFiction25 min read
Nov 15, 2022MidtermsSeems as if this entire year has been all about the midterms — when it wasn’t about January 6th and The Former Guy, and even then it turns out to have been all about the midterms. Midterms. To those of us who suffered through at least a year of college…Midterms3 min readMidterms3 min read
Oct 23, 2022The CornA Fairy Tale It had been as hot and humid as only Iowa could be on that awful July day. Tom and Dick had taken the twins, Harry and Lucy, to the pond where the older boys had rigged a tire swing from an old cottonwood tree and took turns…Ghost Story10 min readGhost Story10 min read
Oct 19, 2022Lazy BonesIt’s one of those gray chilly days in October when not even the piles of golden leaves light up the outside while inside the furnace, set at its usual temperature for winter, does little to chase away the chill which has crept into my bones. All I want to do…Personal5 min readPersonal5 min read
Sep 12, 2021Reclaiming Our TimeJoe Biden spoke for all of us on Friday when he said that we had had enough of this nonsense. When one full quarter of the country is equating a roundup by a gestapo with efforts to save them from a death dealing disease, we have had more than enough…Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
Aug 22, 2021Happiness WasI was perfectly happy once. I know because I wrote it down. I was 34 years old in 1977, had two children in whom I was very well pleased, and lived in a house on a farm that I loved. …Memoir2 min readMemoir2 min read
