Sep 13, 2022Folderol | Apple iBookIt was during an NBC Must See TV commercial break in the autumn of 1998 when I first saw the Jeff Goldblum iMac ad. I looked up from my Packard Bell in mid-dial up connection to the America Online server and saw the dazzling Bondi blue monitor. I was smitten…Essay13 min readEssay13 min read
Sep 13, 2022Folderol | Tween Painted Ceramic TurtleAh, summertime! For kids giddily tearing out of school buildings as the chorus from Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” blared out of car windows from FM radio on the last day of classes, summer meant 10–12 weeks of blissful freedom. For single working mothers with school-age children, it meant scrambling to…Essay10 min readEssay10 min read
Sep 13, 2022FOLDEROL | My Adventure in Mother Goose LandOne of my earliest memories is reading an oversized hardcover edition of Holly Hobbie’s Nursery Rhymes while sitting in my low, chrome-plated stroller parked in the middle of the living room. The lap-sized book had a caramel brown cover and was filled with sepia-toned illustrations of girls in bonnets and…Essay7 min readEssay7 min read
May 12, 2022s p a c e s: overnight stayAnywhere, U.S.A. c.2010 It’s check-in time at the motel we’re stopping at for the night. Where are we going? Where have we been? We don’t recall. We only know that we’ve been riding in a car for hours and now it’s time to stop and rest, our bodies jangling from…Essay33 min readEssay33 min read
Jan 21, 2021s p a c e s: pleasure seekingplace: pleasure island, lake buena vista, florida time: c. april 2002 Hey, party people! Who’s ready to have a Good Time out there? Pull on your pleather pants and platform sandals ’cause we’re hitting the clubs downtown tonight and partying like it’s 2002! Sorry, that should read that we’ll be…Disney63 min readDisney63 min read
Dec 10, 2020s p a c e s: dry heatplace: infrared sauna time: c. 2016 Everybody ends up here eventually — naked and alone, inside a wooden box. Okay, maybe not specifically here, which is an infrared sauna at a spa in midtown Toronto. Seduced by promises and possibilities of a relaxing touch-free, people-less experience that might take the…Wellness16 min readWellness16 min read
Nov 21, 2020s p a c e s: records & recordingplace: montgomery county courthouse, montgomery, alabama time: c. 1990 Welcome to the Montgomery County Courthouse and Administration Building in historic downtown Montgomery, Alabama. Is it in the heart of the historic district? Write-ups about places frequently pin destinations as being in the heart of a larger location, which stirs up…Essay15 min readEssay15 min read
Nov 21, 2020s p a c e s: a day at the outletsplace: orlando vineland premium outlet time: c. 2004 At the end of the line for the I-Ride Trolley, we reach our destination for the day. Here we are at the Orlando Premium Outlet, just off International Drive and Interstate 4. Look across the parking lot and wave to the tourists…Shopping19 min readShopping19 min read
