GROUNDHOG ON TOP Photo Courtesy of DW at Unsplash 0:00 / 0:00 Groundhog on Top My dad is an easy-going fellow, a lover of peace, except when it comes to his garden. One summer, a groundhog moved into our yard. Each morning, my father awoke to find the remnants a groundhog feast: nibbled bits of […]
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ARM WRESTLING, A LOVE STORY Photo Courtesy of Angele Kamp 0:00 / 0:00 Arm Wrestling If I’d paid better attention in my high school physics class, I may never have wound up dating and later marrying my dear husband, Bruce. I met Bruce when I when a graduate student at Dartmouth College. One Sunday, his
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PICKING UP A CHICKEN Photo Courtesy of Ben Moreland 0:00 / 0:00 Picking Up a Chicken Picking up a live chicken requires a certain amount of intestinal fortitude—intestinal fortitude that everyone in my family lacks. And yet that doesn’t mean some of us aren’t good with animals. My son Ian is a stellar pet sitter,
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WHEN LUCKY UNDERWEAR IS NOT ENOUGH My short story has just been published in a literary journal. Please click HERE if you’d like to read it. (Photo by Jen Fariello)Deborah Prum’s fiction has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Across the Margin, Streetlight and other outlets. Her essays air on NPR member stations and have appeared in The Washington
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TELLING A STORY CAN HELP YOU WRITE A STORY A few years ago, I found myself in the middle of a writing slump. All the short stories I sent out came back with a five-word rejection: Not Right For Our List. For a writer, those five words have the same effect as someone saying: “Are
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ROBBED! Photo Courtesy of Manish Das 0:00 / 0:00 Robbed! Years ago, a thief broke into my house and ransacked it. However, when I arrived home, it took a full ten minutes for me to recognize we’d been robbed. Why? To be honest, our little abode normally resembled the town dump. That is to say,
THE FOXGANG PUCK INCIDENT Photo Courtesy of Patrick Hendry 0:00 / 0:00 Foxgang Puck One winter evening a couple of years ago, I was arguing on the phone with my oldest son while I was trying to throw together dinner for a small crowd. I don’t remember the subject of the argument, I just remember
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PERFORMANCE ANXIETY The phrase performance anxiety has a special meaning for my husband and me. For us, the term refers to the cold sweat that covers us whenever our middle son takes to the stage or playing field. We don’t worry whether he’ll shine in the spotlight or excel in a game. Rather, we just
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LIVING IN DOUBLE WIDES Photo Courtesy of Thomas Griesbeck 0:00 / 0:00 Living in Double Wides I rarely buy shoes. If they feel comfortable, I’ll wear a pair as long as I can. Twenty-eight years ago, on the first day of our honeymoon, my husband and I used wedding money to purchase Sebago loafers at
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HOW TO GIVE A GOOD READING DESPITE YOURSELF Photo Courtesy of Kane Reinhold Have you ever been to a reading where the author creeps apologetically to the podium and then stammers through page after page without once changing expression or making eye contact with the audience? Plenty of good writers give bad readings. It’s painful
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