Hi Darling Ones, I did not intend to take a three-day hiatus from the COVID Diaries, but Sister #4 came up from South Dakota for work-related reasons and that took up all my time. I probably shouldn’t be writing now because I’ve had very little sleep over the past three days and that tends to make me more melancholy than usual. So, why not write…
The COVID Diaries: Thoughts Upon Eating Chocolate Cake at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday
Dear Darling Ones, Warning: I’m going to be talking about sleazy dirtbag sexual assaulters below & if that’s the kind of thing you can’t bear you oughta skip this one. It is 4:07 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday, the 376th day of the pandemic. I’m in the midst of writing this entry while also eating an enormous piece of chocolate cake that is bound to…
The COVID Diaries: RIP Queen of Savage
Oh Darling Ones, One of my favorite real-life characters died and I am sad. I wrote about Carol Sue once, a long time ago. It’s a good piece. You should read it. Sister #2 and I love to talk about what an icon Carol Sue was. We always called her the Queen of Savage*, because she knew all the things about everything and had an…
The COVID Diaries: Am I Too Blue For You?
Hello Darling Ones, Around the New Year, I sent an email to a guy I know thanking him for introducing me to the music of Frightened Rabbit and being very kind to me while I nursed a broken heart. He was all, “No problem, hope they’re not too sad for you. They are for me sometimes.” And I laughed. As if. Too sad? For me?…
The COVID Diaries: On One Entire Year of Screaming Inside My Heart
Dear Darling Ones, Today marks an entire year of the COVID Diaries. This was a project I started because I didn’t want to forget what it was like to live in unprecedented times. I wanted to remember how I coped with the pandemic, current events, and being the caregiver to two young men in the middle of all this. My heart is heavy and my…
The COVID Diaries: Two Things
Hi Darling Ones, I’m sitting on the couch a miasma of anxiety and nerves because a repairman just left and I have a job interview in 58 minutes. Now that the repair is completed I feel 57% less anxious. Inviting strange men into my house to do things is so unnerving, especially when I’m all alone. This repair threw me for such a loop that…
The COVID Diaries: The Witch of Ironwood
Dear Darling Ones, The first story I ever wrote was shortly after I learned the word banished. It was called something like “The Banished Witch of Banishment Mountain Who Does a lot of Banishing.” I was about seven when I wrote this story and created the board game that came with it. I was either a marketing wunderkind or had recently learned what Dungeons &…
The COVID Diaries: In My Opinionation
Hi Darling Ones, There’s still a whirlpool going around in my head, but instead of all the sad garbage it’s the book The Witch’s Heart and the ridiculous amount I am relating to it even though I’m a modern giant and not like an ancient, old-timey Norse Ironwood Witch giant. I’m doing my best to ration the book so I can think a little about…
The COVID Diaries: Arts Minotaur
Hi Darling Ones, My plan today was to tell you about how I got the nickname the Arts Minotaur in college and how my friends would tease me by saying in a funny voice, “Oh, I’m the Arts Minotaur & I’m bitter.” Then I was gonna tell you about the Minotaur Funko Pop and maybe something about my penchant for Greek Mythology. It might have…
The COVID Diaries: Jeff Tweedy & Me
Hello Darling Ones, I have never met Jeff Tweedy. He does not know of my existence. I don’t want you going into this thinking I’m gonna be dishing some dirty deets about the guy from Wilco, because I got none. Sadly. I will admit I’ve had an inordinate number of sex dreams about Jeff Tweedy. I don’t often have sex dreams about famous people, but…