Everyone knows how wonderful my sister is. My vast readership here at wormlips.com has been lobbying for me to post more of her writings. If she weren’t such a good person, I’d have to hate her. Oh, she’s not perfect, mind you. Her nose turns up at the tip and her nostrils are uneven. Her giant brown eyes — which are not as innocent as they look — are those of a Guernsey. I could […]
Read moreMonth: December 2011
A Tribute to Ninety-Eight Years
Since I have several weeks off of work, I have some time on my hands: a rare commodity. This morning, instead of spending time brushing up on Spanish for my trip or delving into my stack of applied linguistics books, I found myself making a farewell to Mama Ginna. The still photos span over a decade. The audio is of a phone conversation I had with her shortly before her stroke three years ago. She […]
Read moreThe Real Mama Ginna
In the mid-1990s, I made an unexpected friend. I was working on my documentary about John Henry, looking for old-timers to tell me what they knew about the legend. In the Talcott, West Virginia post office, I asked the postmaster for suggestions of interesting people in town. He thought for a moment and picked up the phone. A few minutes later I was on my way to meet someone named Mrs. Virginia Crockett. I told […]
Read moreOut the Window
I didn’t mean to get up at 5:45 to grade papers. A few hours later I headed with Emmy for our ritual Saturday morning bath, which had been delayed for a couple of weeks on account of tattoo issues. I thought baths were supposed to be relaxing. Ours began that way, so much so that Emmy conked out on my chest the second she hit the water. At bath’s end, I called to Eleni to […]
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