Today I finished chemo. One surgery remains. The toxins will leave my body, my hair will grow back, and I'll get to call myself a survivor. But aren't we all survivors if we make it to another day? I don't know, but I find survivor a strange thing to call myself. Many people are kind …
Recently I wrote about Star Trek's place in my life. But I first fell for Star Trek as a child. Some loves came into my life later. Twin Peaks premiered after I'd moved to Ohio for grad school. I'd made a few friends at Kent, but I felt alone and out of my depth in …
When I was a kid (and for many years after), I would've said my biggest fear was spiders. As a teenager I'd lock myself in a room if that's what it took to get away from a spider. Spiders still cause me breathing trouble. When I started sending my writing out into the world, I …
I grew up in the Florida boondocks. A few feet from my side bedroom window grazed cows. Looking out the back windows of the house, we saw our backyard, more cows, and highway 27. A field of overgrown grass stood between us and our neighbor. Our property, divided in half by the road, extended down …
Whether you had a dream dad, a nightmare dad, an absent dad, or an oddball dad, no matter how you'd describe the man who helped bring about your existence, there is no doubt he shaped you one way or another. Even an absence has an influence. My dad never planned on a being a single …
Here is what I know today. First, I need wound care. This surgical incision--still bleeding after two weeks--isn't healing properly. I'm looking forward to getting that out of the way. After this wound clears up, my future holds a few more medical adventures. I'll be tested for Marfan Syndrome. I've been suspected before of having …
Do you ever google people from your past? Hmmm? Well, okay. So. I set my novel in 1985 because that's when I was a teen and because I didn't want to deal with cell phones and google. I used my hometown as a starting point for my novel. But then my fictional town of Lake …
A couple years ago I took to writing small bits of memoir in this space. I didn't set out to. Those life stories just fell into place--though I'd never had a desire to write a memoir. It was a writing memoir, every story connecting to the writing. I stopped. Maybe I was repeating myself. Maybe …
I was nine when I understood what people meant by, "Be careful what you wish for." I'd wish for my dad to get married. Well, okay. Maybe the expression should be, "Be careful what you wish for unless you're very, very specific." If I'd known that at nine, I'd have wished for my dad to …
I don't remember when I started to care about women. (And I'm not going to say women's issues because it's not a self-contained status sort of thing. We're half the population----nothing special interest about that.) In grad school I complained about a professor who told the class his favorite bar was called "The Silent Woman" …
Continue reading Women Are Awesome. How about if We Stop Murdering Them?
Marta Bacon 