May 2023, by: Robin J. Engel When I was 17 (no, this is not a Frank Sinatra song), I used to get high sometimes. Now, don’t get nervous. Yes, it was illegal back then, which was almost 50 years ago, so if you do the math, you can guess my age. Also, I’m sure there…
I have not been able to taste anything in several weeks. Now, before you get yer panties in a bunch, I’ve been tested for Covid twice, both times negative. Apparently, there are numerous reasons a person can lose their taste and/or smell including your garden variety cold, sinus infection, etc. This is the first time…
I’ve been watching Breaking Bad, a show about a high school chemistry teacher who gets lung cancer at age 50 and decides to cook methamphetamine, one of the worst drugs in existence, so he can make money to pay for his cancer treatments and leave a nest egg for his family. Actually, aside from the…
What is it exactly that I believe? I like to pride myself on saying that I don’t actually believe anything, not completely, because I leave room for possibilities. There are at least 2 sides to every story, and thinking we are correct about anything is a collective myth. Of course, that leaves one imbalanced sometimes,…
I think it’s important for you to know my process. The following are characters that I wrote about based on some writing exercises I created. I came up with a few ideas about a character, then proceeded just to write, without edification or premeditation. Sometimes, I have an outline for a story, and sometimes, I…
I don’t really like the idea of plastic surgery. I realize that people are going to continue to have it, and it has been accepted as a norm. Don’t get me wrong. I look at my face in Zoom meetings and obsess about my sagging jowls as much as the next middle aged woman. But…
Abe’s life was shaped by his history. My dad came from “the old country”, somewhere in Poland, but he came early enough so he had no accent. Abe was the baby of the family. His father died when Abe was 3, from Tuberculosis, but Abe had several older brothers and sisters as surrogate parents. Life…
Alpha (the beginning) The Dark Tower; I am still wondering what that means. I have always thought about the deeper meaning of life, or the nature of reality. My life journey has had dragons, princes, and princesses, because I couldn’t have made it through without the women in my life. The sojourn has had castles…
Moving from Brooklyn to North Massapequa on Long Island, New York, I was the new kid on the block. The only friends I made were a set of twins who had also recently moved from the city to suburbia and together, we lamented. We hated it. I couldn’t sleep, it was so darned quiet. I…
I’m reading, “ the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. A fascinating non-fiction that reads like a novel. Anyway, I don’t believe in divine providence, at least, not the way Evangelicals of the Christian or Muslim faith do. I might be closer to Henrietta’s family – they still believe in Voo Doo, even…