Posts by Jennifer Dougan
Why Community is Worth It and Why You and I Need It
Photo: Young Rok Chang, Creative Commons, cc license Cris-crossed pale skin marked out where the young girl’s swimsuit straps normally lay. Tiny caramel-colored shoulders and back hunched shivering inside the church in a black funeral dress. The summer tan on that small girl several rows up from me just bellowed out the contrast of this…
Read MoreHow to Never Have to Prove Yourself Again
Photo: Leigh Righton, Creative Commons, cc license I’m sipping French pressed coffee and munching on red licorice, a breakfast of champions. In my ear a computer customer service agent talks me through steps to establish my identity for an annual renewal program. It’s convoluted and frightening, the blue screens circling endlessly, dead-ending on the same…
Read MoreWhat You May Not Know You’re Telling Us
Photo: Chad Cooper, Creative Commons, cc license Photo: Yen-Cheng Li, Creative Commons, cc license When I peered out last night, they caught me by surprise. Standing crowded together, they stared to the right, fascinated by something in the west. I laughed and wondered what I was missing; and how did they know to all turn…
Read MoreFriendships that Linger over Lunch & Whisper in the Darkness
I pulled in behind her grey minivan, Shari stepping out from the driver’s seat, arranging tin foil across a tiny platter of chocolate-dipped cookies. “I didn’t want to be the first one here,” she laughed, and we walked up the driveway together. Hugging our hostess, we stepped into two hours of conversation, camaraderie, and community.…
Read MoreWhat Is It For You?
This post is part of the Atlas Girl Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of other bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE. It still does it to me, the smell of popcorn. It reminds me of home. Home wasn’t a zip code, a particular…
Read MoreWhere to Turn When Life Tumbles and Scrawls Red
Photo: StudioTempura, Creative Commons, cc license It was the red crayon scribbled against his tiny head of summer blonde hair that got me. I tried to make light of it. “Let’s color purple on Morgan’s head when we get home,” I grinned conspiratorially to my five year old son, winking at him. Red crayon marked…
Read MoreHow to Be Unstoppable
Photo: Eric Drost, Creative Commons, cc license I don’t remember them being at all the games, but they were at the home games. Me, jumping around in my red and white cheerleading skirt, or hidden away inside a red Cardinal bird mascot, cheering on the junior varsity basketball and football teams, and Mom and Dad…
Read MoreWhile You Were Waiting
Photo: Moon Lee, Creative Commons, cc license Collapsed and cubed cardboard boxes climb the downstairs couch, and scatter the floor. My gardens and landscape beds lie neglected, choked with broadleaf plantain weeds, skinny grasses, and surprise sunflowers from last year’s blossoms. I don’t how long we’ll be here, so I decided not to plant anything…
Read More“Six Breakfasts”
She met me in the church parking lot, long auburn hair pulled into a side -do. “Beka! What fun to see you!” I hugged her tightly, delighted by the surprise of seeing her there. “Sam invited me, saying you might need help this summer,” she twisted her nose ring, grinning. “I’m not sure yet if…
Read MoreWhy I’m Praying For Your Church
Photo: OZinOH, Creative Commons, cc license I keep thinking about him this week. He who had been so hurt and broken, and who had set the town on fire. A day later and the city is still buzzing. This man whom they had grown so accustomed to seeing bent up and begging under the Gate…
Read More