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IF THE CTA COULD TALK…
If the CTA could talk, it would tell stories you’ll never hear on the news. I’ve been riding it for 48 years and I’ve traveled to every corner of this city—from the Wild Hunnits to Evanston on the purple line, from the West Side to Midway, up to O’Hare on the North-West edge. There is…
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HOW TO LOVE
Grandma E taught me love by spoiling me with presents, listening to my sorrows and dreams, bragging about my achievements and teaching me her desert recipes. At the end of her life, on days she did not remember my name or know who I was, she taught me that her best present was her PRESENCE.…
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Church Clothes by Abuela
“You are lucky you are not beautiful, Rebekah. You are quiet and nice. Stay that way. Beauty is a curse. Your lack of beauty is a protection-a blessing from Jehovah to not be tempted into premarital sex and worldliness. Other sisters in the congregation are having a hard time because of their cursed beauty.”” This…
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ARTIST SPAWN
When people see my parents wedding picture: my Dad with the big afro, brown skin and green eyes ….my Mom with a fair complexion – boasting honey kissed freckles and strawberry blonde locks.. I often hear-where ever did they meet? And I say : well in the seventies . DUH! They met hangin’ in Hubmboldt Park…
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TIRED LEGS & YUMMY TREATS
My big sister started school TWO whole years ahead of me even though we were only fifteen months apart. On her first day of school some of the kids were crying because they didn’t want to leave their parents and go in to the big school. Not my sister Deely. She stood up super tall…
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The ZAP
“And what does the zapping electricity feel like in your body? Say more about that.” She crosses her legs tightly, peering at the clock. She reaches to grab her water then retracts and instead tugs at the right sleeve of her sweater draped around her neck like a shawl. I read the entire Mayo Clinic…
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FANTASY GIRL
What is your favorite memory of me? she asked …. “Meeting you ,” he said . The first meeting. The day where we see someone but they don’t see us . There essence doesn’t project baggage or insecurity or layers of who and what did me wrong . The day she was a fantasy of what…
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Working The Night Shift
The Night Shift Dad would kiss mom good night before leaving for work as us six kids got ready for bed. Really it was past our bed time -but we stayed up until 10:30pm just so we could say good night and I love you. It was a different kind of kiss than if he was…
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La Isla
I always write with music. Sometimes when I write the words are too intense and they are moving faster in my head than my hands can keep up with and my body overfills with such intense emotion and explosiveness I have to take a break to dance. If I am in a coffee shop writing…
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Pinching Maureenie
I switched schools in second grade and had to ride a school bus which scared me because I thought buses would flip over when they turned corners especially on narrow streets but eventually I got use to it and…
flashbacks and fantasies 