All of Not Your Average Fairy Tale:
Black Cat Nostalgia
“Next Halloween, I’m gonna be Missy Elliot!”
“I know what I’m going to be for Halloween—a ghoul!”
“I want to be a mad scientist!”
So generally goes the conversation as we’re sitting around the table... read more The Backpack
The note was in a pile of crud I had fished out of bottom of her backpack in an attempt to cram two three-ring binders, ten two-pocket folders, a pencil case, a novel, a lunchbox, and a partridge and a pear tree into it. So far I had found two reading worksheets (not done), several M&M wrappers,... read more Saving Face: What to do when your girlfriend could care less about California
I clicked on the BBC news. Hordes of couples were celebrating on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. I whooped.
“Look, Saads!” I pointed to the T.V. “California ruled lesbian and gay people can get married. Everyone’s lining up!”
“So,”... read more A Boy-Girl Thing?
The gang of kids came wandering up as I was attempting to cut the weeds out of the ditch so my neighbor’s yard wouldn’t flood the next time it so much as sprinkled. I tried to look like I could actually hold the weed-whacker up for more than ten seconds at a time as I idled the engine. I... read more Learning a Strawberry Flavored Lesson
“Hey Missy,” said Vicky Porter, lying on the mat next to mine. “Do you think we’ll get ice cream for snack today?”
Our kindergarten class was housed with the other kindergartens in a small trailer set apart from the “big” school. We could hear... read more The Accidental Adoption
Okay, you’re probably thinking there’s no such thing as an accidental adoption.
After all, in order to adopt you must do a variety of things that you can hardly do without meaning to. Things like showing caseworkers your home. Leaving your fingerprints at the local police... read more Sex Education. Lesbian Style.
I was only five years old when my brother was born. It was my mother’s growing belly that prompted my questions about where babies come from. My mother gave me both more information than I needed, as a kindergartner, and less. Really, I think some analogy about seeds would have satisfied me --... read more Beating My Head Against a Wall; Or, Whatever Happened to the Separation of Church and State?
At times like these all kinds of clichés run through my head. I’m definitely beating my head against the wall. Or chanting the mantra “same *%$#@ problem, different *%$#@ day.” (Fill in the blanks depending on how bad your mood is.) Or cursing the g*#d@#* f&*%$#* white liberals.... read more In Search of Romance
I am a hopeless romantic. I’m downright addicted. I own every Bogart and Bacall movie on DVD, and can recite the most flirtatious lines at will. I’m right with Audrey Hepburn as she falls in love with William Holden and Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina. I myself shamelessly fell for a former flame... read more The Ghosts of Halloweens Past
Take One: Saadia in kindergarten. Only a few short and stormy months since she came to me. I was hanging on by a thread. My once-promising relationship with my fairly new girlfriend was on rocks… apparently it really killed the romance for her to get a blow-by-blow of Saadia’s tantrums and... read more A Coming Out Story
“You know what Miss Feldman told us today,” said a conspiratorial voice from the back seat. “She’s gay... EWWWW!!!”
At the outset I have to say I have changed the names here to protect the guilty. The girl who made this pronouncement -- let’s call... read more | 
