Creative nonfiction is my personal favorite style to write in. These true stories are written using rhetorical and literary strategies, as if they are fictional. The author often takes first personal narrative to describe past experiences.
An homage to the service industry. For the past five months, I worked as a hostess and server at a casual/upscale restaurant. Its interior reflects the building’s original, prohibition-era speakeasy architecture – a posh atmosphere lit by Edison bulbs, filled with eclectic décor. Down the hall hangs a 10-foot-tall set of golden winds, and above […]
All You Can Carry For Two Dollars Read More »
“I’ll have what she’s having,” I told the waiter, pointing confidently to Marcie. For three days, I ordered only what Marcie ordered, and she hasn’t been wrong yet. “Ah, all the way up until our last meal together,” Marcie chimed in. Her Cape Town accent was gentle, like a modest Australian one. She is taller
Searching the Maze Read More »
My grandfather passed away last year. My “papa,” my dad’s dad, my last living grandfather. It was dementia, ultimately, that took his life. And with that loss came a lot of things. Grieving, a funeral, a handwritten eulogy. But it also came with a house. I always thought that acceptance was the final stage of
What I Learned Flipping my Late Grandfather’s House Read More »
The first time I tasted a cheese pierogi was the first Christmas that I had teeth. And I’ve tasted one every Christmas since. The browned onions, the salty dough, the sweet farmer’s cheese filling. It is the long-awaited dish after a day of fasting. There are a few courses before it, but only to tease
Pinching the Edges Read More »
“Ich bin ein bleistift auf dem flughafen [ick bin eye-n BLIE-shtift off dem floog-hoffen],” my dad chanted through the streets of Berlin with a cheeky grin on his face. His eyes shifted to my brothers and I, seeing if he could get a reaction. Usually Ryan would snicker, Camden would roll his eyes, and I
Lost in Translation Read More »
Winner of the University of South Carolina’s Havilah Babcock Short Story Award Step by Step Instructions: How to Walk Alone from the Library to your Car at Two in the Morning If you are a woman, please read section A. If you are a man, please read section B. A. Women. The process of walking
Due to my newfound abundance of free time, I’ve been rereading old books. Most recently was Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning – “the classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust.” I remember feeling moved after my first reading, like Frankl discovered the solutions to life’s problems. The second time around, I not only
Man’s Search for Meaning in COVID-19 Read More »
“It’s a bigger culture shock than you’d think,” a friend told me. She studied in Rome the semester before me, and despite her four months of experience, I didn’t believe her. Maybe for you, I thought. But not me. I’ve traveled a lot, and I’ll be fine. Three days into my program, I began learning
I’ve never been much of an “outdoors” person. Hiking is exhausting, camping is terrifying, and fishing is uneventful. I have allergies, which means watery eyes and a runny nose whenever I walk outside. And most irritatingly, mosquitos love sucking on my sweet skin, and I always find the red itchy spot before I find the
High Flying in Switzerland Read More »
A temporary blindness came over me as I stepped from the sun into the dark church. A large, blurry, blue hole morphed across my eyesight like a lava lamp. Shoes squeaked, bodies shuffled, and mumbled prayers filled the room. A deep male voice echoed a Polish song, heard but not seen. As peripheral objects began
