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Month: June 2015

First, There is Racism

When my husband and I built our house at Pickwick Lake, we built it into the high bluffs that circle the lake. In order for this to work, the architect had to take steel beams and drive them through the shifting mud until he hit bedrock. The house was thus anchored and then built around these beams. I keep thinking of this image as I ponder the...

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Just Rain

When we were interring Daddy in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery (x marks the spot, a shovel, and an urn), rain fell. We held umbrellas, but we were moving, digging and tossing dirt. The August rain dripped slow and steady—not warm, not cool, just rain—and even as it was happening, I knew I’d never act afraid of the rain again. No running to...

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The Moment

The shade on our living room window diffuses the light. When the sun’s going down, the room glows golden. A blue turquoise Christmas tree from Target sits on the window sill—the apartment is decorated in white and black and turquoise. I left the tree up after Christmas as a spot of color. Backlit by the sun, framed by the skyline of New...

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