“three boring facts about yourself” by Julia on R’s couch

Thursday, November 29, 2018
5 minutes
Two Truths and a Lie
Alicia Elliot

Okay number one is that I pick my nose. Nothing exciting about that, nobody cares, everyone does it, and the only people who think it’s bad are parents to toddlers who are embarrassed of everything they do. Once I said that I do it in a job interview and the whole room fell in love with me. I knew not because I did it and they do it but because I said it and had no shame.

Number two is that I sometimes watch Grey’s Anatomy even though it’s no longer good or fun, and I still cry my eyes out every time. I watch it when I need to turn off my mind completely. I don’t care about the characters when I’m not watching. I don’t tell anyone I watch it. It’s a boring thing about me. Now you know.

Number three is that I can sit in silence for a long time with my back in a weird position. Not on purpose like a life model posing for painters. Not like a Yogi who is meditating or a regular person who is meditating. Like a person who finds a position and then doesn’t move even though the spine is probably breaking. It’s just a thing I do.

“It’s her first time here” by Julia on her couch

Wednesday November 28, 2018
5 minutes
I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind
Marianne Apostolides

she comes in with a bit of a pulse in her scarf, a few minutes late of course, the bit of bird shit still on her boot.
The ladies spot a chicadee and point her into the right room, tossing his jacket into the stroller, checking in.
Later she tries to convince another mother that her kid’s coat was not his coat.
she is told by the instructor or care giver that her kid slapped a girl in the head. That no needs to be firm and understood

“Jobs for college students” by Julia on M’s front porch

Sunday March 11, 2018


5 minutes



“All of it, kid.” by Sasha on her couch

Saturday November 22, 2014
5 minutes
From a first draft of a screen play

Clementines are out again, see that! Those big ones that fill your hand right up like a baseball! And those tiny ones that you just so easily putt with a golf club! Clementines are out again kid, and you know what that means? SNOW. The snow’s coming soon. When I get a crate of those clementines at the IGA, I save it and I use it as kindling. Best kindling you can find. Better than brush, or whatever they teach you to use at Cubs. I prefer my clementines right out of the fridge. Cold. Better than a beer in a chilled glass! Better than a popsicle!

“Develop the skills needed” by Sasha at her desk

Wednesday May 14, 2014
5 minutes
A centennial college poster

A: I’m at the police station –
B: What?
B: Is this a joke?
A: No.
B: Oh my God…
A: It’s going to be okay.
B: How is this –
A: They need to keep me here overnight.
B: I’m coming down.
A: No.
B: Where’s Lizzie?
A: I called Madeleine.
B: Shit.
B: Where’s his number?
B: Why is it – ?
A: Please.
B: Okay. Okay. Hang on.

“As I held his hand he would have tremors and small jerking movements” by Julia at her desk

Wednesday February 5, 2014
5 minutes
Learning To Love You More
Harrell Fletcher & Miranda July

sometimes you wanna sing, have a song in your head
and all the rest seems unimportant
or just too plain to care about right then
so you do
you sing it out and you let the emotions from
well, your past
bubble up and from words that rhyme with each other
Shania Twain kind of words
words you never thought you’d hear your boyfriend defend
words you always told yourself you would never own
you do now
cause Shania knew what she was doing
and on some deep level, everybody knows that
you sing to the one who stole your heart
the one with eyes so blue you can only come up with lyrics about the sky
the one who loved you in secret but hurt you hard in front of the whole world
you may even sing about the wind or something
the breeze, the trivial, the dew?
probably the dew.
let’s be honest: the dew.
and you struggle to come up with a chorus
or a verse
or whichever didn’t come first
and you picture singing that to someone, anyone
one day in the future
your lover-
when you get one
or your kid-
when you are capable of one
and you hope it causes those lovey dovey tremors
those small ever so subtle shakes that keep
you singing those songs when you find them

“Many words will be written” by Julia in her bed

Sunday, November 17, 2013
5 minutes
The Art of Listening
Henning Mankell

It was a thought that dawned on me today as I was picking up my kid from pre-school. I didn’t acknowledge it until I got home and had him safely playing Lego in the living room. By then it was bigger. It had grown. This thought, where once only a small meaning was housed, now had so much more importance. I can’t explain it really. Unless I say “it grew” which, I suppose, is very accurate. It matured and formed its own offshoots of itself without me being conscious of it. Then by the time I was ready to entertain it, it was ripe for the pickin’ and I had no problem taking a bite.
This thought was full and pregnant with possibility. It was welcoming me to answer its knock and yet when I listened at the door, I didn’t hear a thing.