Every neighborhood has bullies. Ya know, those kids who lurk around the corners, skulking in the shadows. They’re usually bigger than you, and they have a posse of big, mean-looking kids. My neighborhood was no exception.
I hadn’t had a lot of run-ins with the bullies, but I’d heard about them. From my brother and other kids. I knew they existed.
One afternoon, my friend and I were riding our bikes around the neighborhood, looping around the streets that were within our parent-determined boundaries. We turned down one street and saw a group of kids on their bikes lined up across the street. (more…)
It was a new era for me. I was starting college. I would finally be able to make my own decisions and live my own life. I was thrilled. When I got my welcome packet, it contained a pile of information, including my college email address on a little, laminated card. “Go ahead and log in now,” the accompanying paper said. “Familiarize yourself with our system.”
So I waited a few weeks.
Ha! If you believe that, you probably don’t know me. Of course I logged in right away. Or tried to. (more…)
Every now and then, when I’m watching a movie, I see something that catches me off-guard and makes me want to slide between the cushions of the couch. I see myself. I see a character doing or saying exactly what I would do or say. The specifics of the situation may differ, but the idea is the same.
Take, for instance, Julie & Julia, a charming and funny movie about two women learning about life and food in two very different times. Julia Child (played to perfection by Meryl Streep) is a wife in Paris, trying to break into the man’s world that is Cordon Bleu cooking school. After a particularly difficult session of dicing onions, she determines never to be embarrassed again. (more…)