Mrs. Kiffmeyer, My Piano Teacher (Memoir)

Mrs. Kiffmeyer, My Piano Teacher (Memoir)

I walked up the driveway to the top of a small hill in a nice, Minnesotan neighborhood every Thursday afternoon for piano lessons. When I reached the top and opened the front door, I slipped into another world. A curtain drew back from my black-and-white movie and...
Tedium 8 – An Apocalyptic Roadside Attraction (Fiction)

Tedium 8 – An Apocalyptic Roadside Attraction (Fiction)

It was macabre. A gothic children’s exhibit. A series of blackened and burnt structures had been cobbled together to form a methamphetamine miniature golf course in the center of nowhere. Jarette was on the border of Utah and Nevada just outside the small town of...
Learning Loneliness in Track Town (Memoir)

Learning Loneliness in Track Town (Memoir)

I stood in his bathroom with a bucket, a sponge, and a can of Ajax bleach. He was in the doorway. A strange and angular-looking middle-aged man staring at me through wire-rimmed glasses with a lascivious grin. My skinny body was nervous, but I was broke and I needed...
Fourth Grade Broke My Face (Memoir)

Fourth Grade Broke My Face (Memoir)

It was late September and I could feel winter coming. The leaves had changed color and the grass was nearly brown. Winter was always around the corner in Granite City. Snow often fell in October and stayed until May. At Westforest Elementary, teachers made us go...
My Wicked Kindergarten Teacher (Memoir)

My Wicked Kindergarten Teacher (Memoir)

We sat cross-legged on the colorful carpet in three rows. 30 small bodies looking straight ahead with young, innocent faces at Mrs. Kablutsen. She stood in front of an empty blackboard and seemed too old to be a kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Kablutsen looked like the...