Stories & Poems & Thoughts (Oh My)

Rats, Part 2: Karma

The rats continue to plague me. They skitter. They are not paying rent. They scratch. They are disturbing my sleep. They poo my attic. Sporadic wafts of rat poo interrupt ...
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Rats: Not a Love Story!

My house has a rat problem. It started with a rat named Greg. He wakes me up, scuttling across the bedroom ceiling back and forth, back and forth. At first, ...
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Be Brave

Writing is an act of bravery—like all artistic endeavors. You show up. You throw up your guts. You edit the crap out of the mess to find the snippets of ...
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How to Defrost a Samsung IceMax Refrigerator (Part 3)

Three months after the weekend spent melting a chunk of ice the size of overhead luggage, I’m back glaring at Beelzebub’s machine (see Parts 1 & 2). I shiver. Something ...
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How Do We Say ‘Enough’?

Statue of Danuta Danielsson
by Susanna Arwin In 1985, Danuta Danielsson, child of a concentration camp survivor, swung her handbag at a member of the Nordic Reich Party parading through ...
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What will it take to say ‘Enough’?

The Woman with the Handbag
by Susanna Arwin I lived through a childhood with a mother scarred by the Holocaust and know firsthand how violence, and watching violence brutalizes people.  How ...
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The Ninja Jewish Princess

I had three dreams the other night—all variations on a car theme. But I’m pretty sure that’s not what they’re about—maybe you can help? The night started okay – not ...
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Part 2: Defrosting a Samsung IceMax Icemaker

Don't try this at home! In other words, the nitty-gritty of de-icing a concrete block of ice designed by an imbecile and rendering my expensive, new fridge unable to make ...
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How to Defrost a Samsung IceMax

Push down the ice maker lever. No ice. Ask your housemates, “How long has this not worked?”
They shrug. “It stopped working three weeks after we bought it.”
Curse. Try it again—no ...
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Our Country’s Colors

Julian, Dad, Marcelina, baby-me, Charmaine As I watch this country, a country I chose to join, I am broken-hearted and scared. Our country is on the precipice of revolution during ...
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