All’s Well That Ends Well

Almost a week ago now, our local paper featured a feel-good story on one of the city’s public high school graduates. It’s been shared all over social media, and the school system has been proud to showcase it on Facebook and Twitter. The story begins like this: “Eighteen years ago, Cate O’Malley was a helpless…

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Scottish Date Cake

I have no idea where this recipe actually came from, but it’s one that Tim found after eating something similar at a restaurant back in Ann Arbor. “We can’t share our recipe,” the owner said, “but I can tell you that if you search for XYZ, you’ll find something similar.” I don’t remember what XYZ…

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An Interview with Tim Waggoner

At the top of Dayton-area writer Tim Waggoner’s website is a quote from Dayton.com that reads: “Stephen King meets Franz Kafka.” To be compared to two literary greats like those is quite an accomplishment, but Tim seems to take it all in stride. I met him once at a LitSalon for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop,…

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Anatomy of a Breakup

Daisy had worked at the college for over thirteen years, all in a part-time capacity. During those years, she’d begun to raise to her family, added to that family, and thought about whether or not teaching as a profession would turn out to be her calling. The woman who hired her—the bright, gregarious sort with…

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An Interview with Ben Berman

Ben Berman‘s name first crossed my desk about two years ago when Literary Mama decided to feature him in our Father’s Day issue. At the time, I remember being impressed with his ability to write poetry that spoke to me as well as his experiences traveling, something that’s featured in his work. He’s the author…

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An Interview with Rebecca Morean

Most people in the Dayton writing community have heard or interacted with Rebecca Morean. That’s because she can be found all over the Dayton area. She teaches in the English Department at Sinclair Community College, presents lectures on craft and the business of writing with the Antioch Writers’ Workshop, and coaches writers so they can…

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An Interview with Jeanne Oates Estridge

Jeanne Oates Estridge began writing in third grade, when she crafted her first short story about bunnies who named their many children in alphabetical order. That same year, she drew a picture of her future self dressed “in a floor-length, crayon-blue dress, sitting at a typewriter.” It may have taken a bit of time, but…

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What I Realized

    While I’m grateful that 2019 is behind us, I’m also grateful for the realizations I gained over the prior year. I’m listing them in no particular order. Acquaintance circles might stretch for miles, but the number of true friends a person has is very few. Using people is something that much of humanity…

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Finding My Voice

When I first began writing, my goal was mainly to share anecdotes about my day with the kids, or to keep record of something smart and pithy that one of them said. The act of writing served to lift me up, but it also made some of what I was doing more concrete. As time…

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