My Personal Creative Nonfiction
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Am I Just Painting This Old Wagon Blue?
I don’t remember if I taught him the song or if he taught it to me. But one summer, Grandpap Swayne and I sang, Little red wagon painted blue…, as we played dominoes, painted by numbers, and watched cartoons on TV. When I was a child, Mother and I traveled from our home in Richmond, Virginia, to Continue reading
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My Father’s Heart
During the final year of his life, my father did everything right. By following a strict diet, he lost weight. He exercised daily and avoided stress. He rekindled the romance in his marriage. He looked and seemed to feel healthy. Then one summer morning, a neighbor discovered him lying unconscious on the ground in our Continue reading
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I Just Met My Sister, and Now We’re on a Road Trip Together
My sister drives confidently over the rollercoaster hills and hairpin curves along the road through Cameron. She’s a born West Virginian. The town clings to a slope of the Allegheny range’s shamrock green mountains. Its thousand or so inhabitants shelter themselves in humble houses perched on rough ridges or squatting in ravines. We are here to visit Continue reading
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The Curious Case of the Very Fit Facebook Lady
She inhabits my Facebook newsfeed. Claiming to be in her 70s, she posts daily Reels showing herself performing vigorous exercises — step aerobics, weight lifting, advanced yoga asanas, or some combination of the three. Anyone who takes only a brief look at her videos might assume she is in her 20s. In fact, many 20-year-olds Continue reading
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Dad Would Have Liked Her Better
An email alerted me that my DNA analysis report was ready to view. When I logged on to Ancestry.com and clicked on my DNA matches, there she was. The first person on my list of matches surprised me. I expected to see an aunt or cousin listed there—someone I knew. The first entry, however, was Continue reading
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Overcoming the Dread
My inability to sleep on Sunday nights began when I was 13. After a weekend away from middle school, I lay in bed anticipating the week ahead. A test is coming up. That girl in gym class is waiting to bully me again — to shout at me that I’m no good at basketball; I’m too prissy; Continue reading
Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?
If so, this blog is for you.
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