Labor Day Braid

Before being eligible for working papers at age 16, I did extra chores for cash, and I babysat. I didn’t always enjoy babysitting but knew that parents needed time together and was happy to earn 50 cents an hour. After the children were safely tucked in bed, I’d stay...

Distractions

“With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing,...

Why am I Writing?

Why do people become writers? The question arose during my Creative Nonfiction class at WriterHouse. One of my classmates, a clinical psychologist, said that people work for three reasons: money, career or mission. I wondered if one could work for all three reasons,...