Survival Tools…or Summer Shenanigans…

I pulled my swimsuit from between my butt cheeks, situated it more comfortably and took a running start, sliding on the homemade slip and slide with ease, landing in a puddle of mud at the end. I came up sputtering, mud everywhere in my hair, my mouth. My white Jordache swimsuit was also covered with…

Coffee Shops: The Modern Day Library

When I was in graduate school in early 2000, I was a page and then a circulation worker at the local library. I loved that job. Being surrounded by the smell of books was euphoric for me. One of my favorite tasks was to shelve the fiction because it was upstairs, in an isolated part…

What’s Your Motivation: Becky’s Story

My aunt glanced at my mom with a gleam in her eye, “How about those implants?” She eventually asked my mom. I looked at my mom then my aunt and back at my plate of food. It was Thanksgiving, and I was 17. I had no idea that my mom had gotten implants. She had…

What’s Your Motivation? : Wendy’s Story

The Mojave Desert sun beat down on my back while sweat made its way between my shoulder blades and saturated my t-shirt; my dark jeans clung to my skin uncomfortably making me even more encumbered. Hiking in Red Rock Canyon right outside of Las Vegas, I was preoccupied with my sluggishness more so than the…

What’s Your Motivation? : Sandy’s Story

My cousins and I ran through the house, little legs pumping in unison. We came to a halt in the kitchen and oohed and ahhed over the birthday cake. The adults were chatting about Saints’ football and setting out even more food. Riding on the high of making my middle school dance team, I blurt…

What’s your motivation? : Mandy’s Story

The cold, white sterile walls seemed to close in on me as the doctor walked back into the holding room. My slippered feet hanging off of the edge of the hospital bed; the room smelled of ammonia and sickness. “We have you on the highest dose of the strongest blood pressure medicine available, and it…