Archive for the ‘Relationships’ category

“The interloper” redux

In 2011 I published a story on this site called “The interloper”. In it, a teenaged girl named Jessie falls in love with her best friend Sarah. They eventually break up when Sarah can no longer take the pressure of being queer in high school. Sarah gives Jessie a box of the notes they’ve exchanged […]

2015?!! Shit. Mixmas got delivered in February. All the better. Xoxo

2015: Will get better from seroquel on 8tracks Radio. 2015: Happy to be Here from seroquel on 8tracks Radio. Hey my loves, I guess I can’t help myself. I still make a mixmas. In fact I made two. Two different vibes. It made sense to me. What made it a bit more fun this year […]

Why I don’t do Facebook (or, the state of my social media, early 2013)

As far as I can remember, the first time anyone tried to get me to sign up for Facebook was February 2006. I’m pretty certain about the date because it coincided with events documented in this very early TGW post, which I’ve bookmarked for years in order repeatedly to retrieve the recipe for Mikelle’s Mexican […]

Make love not war

Some days I am haunted by the “for richer or poorer, sickness and health” dichotomies of the marriage vow. Some days the good to bad range extends to unreasonable expectations. This was one of those days. “So let me get this straight. You wear a red vinyl penis on the outside of your clothes, use a walker […]

Settling in has its price

I had one week with my daughter in Paris to settle her in before she started her freshman year of college. It was a constellation of connection and closeness along with misunderstandings and frustrations, the need for separation sitting with us both. The weather was gorgeous and we went out to see the sights and […]

Catching up with …

Last winter I didn’t even manage a family holiday letter. In the past I’d let things slip as far as St. Patrick’s Day, but last year things felt so up in the air I had no idea how to describe where we’d been and where we were going, and so I let it drop altogether. […]

Muffin

Cleaning out my desk today for an office move I discovered a copy of an essay I received from a student a couple years ago. I asked the class to write about a person who had had a big influence on them. I reproduce the essay here as is, with only the real names redacted. […]

I just sew

Every quilt I complete and give away annoys her. “When do I get mine?” she asks in that tone that already knows the answer. “I just haven’t found the right pattern.” I just haven’t found the right colors.” I just haven’t found the right inspiration.” I can’t use time as an excuse because I figure […]

May we tease?

I have realized this week how terribly I am led to tease people. It’s a very bad habit that I got from my father, but since I never had much of an ego of my own, and was teased mercilessly and cruelly all throughout my childhood, it feels to me as though teasing, of the […]

The yellow wallpaper

It’s been close to two years now since I bought my first house. It’s a ninety year-old Craftsman-style home on Main Street in a small city in Wisconsin, full of hand-rubbed plaster walls, oak built-ins, and birdseye maple floors. Despite my occasional restlessness and a love for urban life, this is well and truly my […]