Essays

“The Kiss that Launched a Thousand Bullets,” is my personal response to the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida in June 2016. It was printed as a letter in the New York Times.

“Letter to my Younger Self,” inspired by The Letter Q, is a letter written to my closeted, teenage self with advice and encouragement.

“Disappearing Act,” a piece about dealing with my mother's decline with Alzheimer's Disease, won the 2010 Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest and was printed in the Summer 2010 issue of the Oregon Quarterly.

“Rekindling the Heart” describes taking our 14-year-old son to Thailand for a month to volunteer in an orphanage. It was printed in the December 2003 issue of Mothering magazine.

“A Public Embrace” is about being the lesbian mother of a transgender daughter. It was printed as a guest editorial in the Register Guard, February 26, 2006.

“Rights of Passage” contrasts the experience of losing both my partner's mother and the family dog within the same year, touching on the difficult issues of euthenasia and the right to die. It was a finalist in the 2006 Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest.

“Domestic Warrior” describes my partner's and my joyous, if brief, foray into legal marriage. It was printed in the Summer 2004 issue of Oregon Quarterly. (Portuguese Translation.)

“Piecing It Together” is a true-life ghost story about inexplicable phenomenon in a coastal rental and how this spirit-like encounter helped me solve a few mysteries of my own.

“Touched by Obama” describes my energizing, inspiring encounter with Barack Obama on his campaign trail stop in Eugene.

“Blindsided” tells the story of a parent's worst nightmare, and a slow road to recovery.

“Boy Tears” is an intimate piece about watching my sensitive son struggle in a rather ruthless high school environment. It was published (as "Tears") in Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Sons, 2004.

“Transport” is the painful recounting of having our 16-year-old son transported in the night to a rehab wilderness camp. “The One We Lost” is about my partner giving birth to our stillborn child, an experience made even more difficult by insensitive staff. A shorter version of this was printed in the anthology, Politics of the Heart, in 1991.

“Stroller Activists” is an essay I wrote in 1988 about the challenges we faced as a lesbian family in the 1980s. Although much of it still rings true, so much has changed since then in terms of societal acceptance. This was printed in "Matrix Women's Newsmagazine" in 1988 and reprinted in The Marriage and Family Experience (a college textbook) in 1989.

See also my travel blog about traveling around the country in an RV for a year:
www.oneyearontheroad.com