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Daily Archives: February 15, 2020

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Long Beach Island, NJ

For half a moment, my brother finally stands fully upright, his arms in perfect T-pose for balance. David looks royal, stiff posture, but also perfectly poised, relaxed, like he’s commanding the swells to rise and recede with his downturned palms; the surfboard glides in the

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Dr. Harvard and the Black Hole of Calcutta

DING DING DING  Out in the hallway, the woman with the sour smoker’s face is ringing a bell mounted on the wall next to the nurse’s station. It looks like the bell you ring to signal you’ve had enough of Navy SEAL training. I want

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Windstorm

Our new Chevy van is tan. It has four hot, sticky houndstooth plastic seats and a nest of wool blankets that smell like antique wax and alcohol solution. My dad uses these blankets to protect furniture he repairs and delivers to rich people. He makes

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Shock on the Salton Sea

From a distance, it is beautiful. A sparkling blue body of water in the blazing hot California desert. Mountains in the distance. Date palms.   The shoreline is white, but it’s not sand you crunch beneath your hiking boots (this is no beach for flip-flops),

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Maybe Magic Things

I don’t remember agreeing to it. I was only eight years old, but this mattered not, because there was no escaping it. We were off to Crestbrook Bible Camp in the Pocono Mountains with my father’s Bible-thumping family. A two-week retreat surrounded by a picturesque

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What We Keep

My little brother and mother both smirk as my grandfather asks me to pray before we eat. I put down the green olive I had almost popped into my mouth and say “sure,” with a facial expression that feigns joy at saying the blessing while

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In My Back Pocket

I carve the eastern Kentucky hills with my girlfriend’s hatchback. I’m following the same roads the Dukes of Hazzard drove with their 1969 Dodge Charger named General Lee. I see the rebel flag, the Dixie flag, and the Southern Cross flying from houses and small