Stephanie Klein's Greek Tragedy

an education in “artsy”

I went to the artsy movie theatre dressed in black, my hair bump-it high, wearing soft leather flats. I don’t do berets, but if I were the type to smoke, I’d have a pack of something spiced with…

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grandparents who’d rather

Ican’t delete him from my cell phone. I haven’t tried to dial the number because it would be sad to hear a disconnected recording. I already know the number won’t work, or maybe someone else will answer, a young mother,…

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being single tastes like saffron cream sauce with leeks

When my father first became single after his split with my mom, he had his best friend from childhood, "The Doc," over our house. My father remains close with many of his friends from childhood, each of them with their…

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teacher man: remembering Frank McCourt

When I heard of the passing of Frank McCourt I asked Stephanie if she would write a blog post about him.  She responded that I should write something as she hadn’t read his books or personally known him. It…

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ringers, grease, and technology class: a primer

Look At That S Car Go! We were in fifth grade, standing on the edge of my front lawn, our bicycles tossed to the ground. "Whaddaya wanna do now?" Leigh asked. "Let’s be grease monkeys," I said. I wanted…

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real housewives of the lone star state: bantam babes won’t you come out tonight?

"Ma, you can’t feed the chicken chicken!" "What, I should make separate meals?" They’re coming. The real housewives of The Lone Star State. They’re really coming. Growing up, I’d always heard my mother refer to the women at our…

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thriller

An Amazing Loss I was in my kitchen when I heard the news. I’d turned off the TV earlier, and the only music we heard was from the bite-sized voices in the living room: my children. Phil was out,…

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five traits you liked in yourself as a child

There are always obvious answers, easy choices, roads well-traveled. In fact, standardized tests bank on it, presenting the lazy, most commonly incorrect answer as choice "C" (also the default letter in the A-E of multiple choice answers). No doubt there…

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high school: it’s what you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to get over

I hate to be one of those people who throws around the word "amazing," but that’s what today was for me. Speaking to students at Flanagan High School was an amazing experience. It was my first time…

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ice is nice

I grew up without an ice-maker. That is, I was the ice-maker, the "fresh-maker" if you will (oh, the abuse!). Our refrigerator was, what I referred to as, a bi-level, with a rectangle of a freezer on top, and…

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