Being alone on a boat at sea after a warm embrace on the quay carried with it the thrill of solitary freedom and possibility. I stood at the stern by the fluttering French flag watching Dinard fall away, then turned to Saint Malo with its central steeple poking out from the uniform mass of the town.
Category Archives: Nonfiction
02
Mar
Mar
I am the last scuba diver on the dive boat. I look out to the horizon, where the gray sky meets the vast South Pacific Ocean. We’ve come a short ride from Matauri Bay in Northland New Zealand.
11
Dec
Dec
It’s early April. I stand at my sink watching the daffodils I planted last fall—I bought the bulbs on sale at a hardware store—begin to bloom, or try to. It’s been snowing and hailing all morning,…
31
Oct
Oct
A mother and daughter play pinball at the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park, New Jersey. If there’s a pinball gene, this vignette may be proof that it exists.
01
Sep
Sep
That last evening in Ireland, on the docks, our favorite aunt, Molly, and her husband, Bill, came to see us off, hugging us as we were about to board the ship.
11
Mar
Mar
A simple yet power story about social (non)distancing in the Covid era and the choices we make in the post-lockdown period
09
Mar
Mar
I was woken by the rain at 6:30 a.m. Except that it wasn’t the rain; it was water drizzling into the room from the ceiling.
In a moment of veteran-like panic I had a flashback to one year ago when…
22
Feb
Feb
Every day while walking my dog through my Paris neighborhood I glance into the living room of a ground floor apartment through a stained glass window, with a pattern of roses, pale yellow and deep red, with rich green leaves. The window is a little beauty mark in an otherwise utilitarian dog walk.