Empower

In an unlit break room, at the end of lunch, two coworkers chat. The first tries to comfort the second, because she has just had a miscarriage. The worst part, she admits, is that while she has accepted the loss, her body hasn’t, awaiting something that will not come.   […]

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View of Social Media 2020

In a few words: wtf.   Let’s just start by saying Instagram misses me and I miss Instagram. I can’t even bring myself to reply to my meme groups, because I don’t have the energy to sift through related pages these days and report. Plus it was so fun to […]

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dream job

Dream Job(s)

When I was a kid, I dreamed of being the main character of a video game. The game was about saving a princess, helping helpless villagers, and destroying the evil green-faced bad guy, who would stop at nothing to gain absolute power. He was powerful enough as is, but he […]

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snow impatient

Snow Impatient

There’s nothing I hate more than wasting time, except talking about it. Yet I knew there was a pointless fight to be had as soon as I got home from the office. So I took the highway, hoping to speed down the left lane, get to my wife quicker than […]

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fairy tale

George and Hannah

There once was a secretary and a school teacher who loved each other very much, but they seemed to always argue over the children. They were hers, he said. She should do more to take care of them. Yeah, but I’m more busy than you, and you live in my […]

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an open letter to a fifteen year old

(Self-)Parental Guidance

An open letter to a fifteen year old. Dear you,   Look me in the eyes. Are you happy? The answer is No.   I’m going to do my best to transmit to you, through space and time, a message of hope and encouragement. Hope because we need to unleash […]

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my biggest mistake

My Biggest Mistake in Life and Why

“Make mistakes.” This was my boss’s first piece of advice to me. It felt strangely familiar, knowing we must lose a few tokens to win the big chips. When I told him I appreciate his wisdom, he shook his head. “It’s not my idea. I just follow the principle.” Now […]

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life in bucharest

“Life checkup”: a routine physical of the mind

Indian flute music plays in the background. Chest breathes heavy, then soft, lungs seeking incense that isn’t there. My tongue, tingling, takes the hot iron straw of the yerba mate and draws in the vibrant green liquid. I look out the window at a beautiful Bucharest dawn, today a paisley […]

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words

“Aglet”: or stories of vocab

The guitar player strums or picks. The turtle does not scuttle or bumble. The sink drips, while the sirens . . . the sirens . . . holler? Hoot? Sound off?! What describes the sound a siren makes? It’s important to have the right vocabulary, especially when communicating important things […]

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our wedding

This can’t be love

This can’t be love, because I feel so well,No sobs, no sorrows, no sighs.This can’t be love; I get no dizzy spells,My head is not in the skies. –Nat King Cole   I often wondered why being in love made you want to stand on top of a mountain, shouting […]

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Birthdays of Levinov

Birthdays of Levinov

2018. Julia sat at a table alone with a birthday cake. Stuck to the creamy icing were six wax candles and a red letter A. She had spent the morning mixing chocolate and eggs for her son, to see him enjoy the three or four slices he was capable of […]

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money

$ketche$

I was walking down one of those M.C. Escher stairs, in a museum, when I reached the end. From where I stood I could hear a young boy below, sobbing. The sound wasn’t echoing, as it should have been in such a large space. Fortunately, some of the railing was […]

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pet peeves

Pet Peeves on Pet Peeves

No. No-o. Nope . . .  No-o-o-o. No! No-u-u-u. NO! We shouldn’t complain.   But here is a list of things that make me snarky, anyway. Some I am guilty of committing myself, while others are pure abstractions. At any rate, it’s what I’ve come up with and would like […]

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the man who no one loved

The Man Who No One Loved

I.   Leroy was an exceptional man. Except, for one reason or another, no one wanted to date him. It led to much confusion, then suffering. Why?   In answering this question, he began to consider his mother. The cause of his loneliness might be in her. Only, she was […]

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