Paper Sack

December 23, 2011.Reading time 4 minutes.

Published on catapult magazine, Tradition II edition, December 2011 by Amanda Cleary Eastep Photo Credit: christian associates via Compfight cc There was something about that big paper sack. The weight of it in my small hand promised something wonderful. It was heavy with possibilities, with the chance to share and exchange with my little brother […]

She Heightened My Awareness of the World and I Didn’t Even Know It Until Now

December 9, 2011.Reading time 6 minutes.

[Written for catapult magazine’s Sensory Experience issue https://www.catapultmagazine.com/sensory-experience/article/she-heightened-my-awareness-of-the-world%5D From across the uncleared dinner table, my grandmother feeds me stories—how she ran opossum traps in the morning before school, how she gathered herbs on the Round Bluff, how she watched her little brother die of pneumonia. I listen to the same ones over and over, because […]

Fall Walk

October 20, 2011.Reading time 1 minute.

While the title Fall Walk aptly summarizes a post about taking a walk on a lovely fall day, it also brings to my mind our life journey, beginning with our first steps. Walk, fall down, get up again. Try not to fall, at least not as hard as the last time. For me, a perfect […]

Beef and beer stew (oh, and some wine)

October 8, 2011.Reading time 4 minutes.

I’ve wanted to try this recipe for a while, and fall seemed like the perfect time (despite the fact it has been in the 80s). Thanks to a fellow catapult magazine contributor for this recipe! On the “I could stick my face in this” scale of 1 to 5, I would give this at least […]

Bruised peaches taste sweeter

September 18, 2011.Reading time 4 minutes.

[Published in catapult magazine’s Going Local issue: http://www.catapultmagazine.com/going-local/article/bruised-peaches-taste-sweeter%5D I bought 10 pounds of bruised peaches from the farm stand today. Five dollars, AS IS. I knew it meant a good hour that evening of peeling and excising the moldy brown spots, and I started to walk away. But I also knew that if I carried […]

Hearts Are Not Heart-shaped

September 3, 2011.Reading time 5 minutes.

My younger daughter is watching people from her hospital bed in the ER. “I feel like I’m on the Hogwarts’ train, you know, when all the people keep passing by the compartment?” Passing through the frame, only for a few seconds…a woman pushing a cart overflowing with bins full of files, a white-coated man pushing another […]

Taking a Red Crayon to a White Wall

July 23, 2011.Reading time 8 minutes.

Seven teenagers sit around the table, notebooks in front of them, looking to me to teach them how words work. How words flow out of the end of that purple gel pen or the borrowed pencil and somehow arrange themselves on lines and into stories. I have barely finished a more-challenging-than-usual semester of teaching a media […]

The difference between traveling and the journey

July 6, 2011.Reading time 4 minutes.

The beauty of travel exists not so much in the landscape as in the people who make their lives in that place. When we engage with those people, if only to ask one genuine question or listen to a synopsis of their story, we carry that place back with us, not just in photos or trinkets, […]

Life’s a Beach

June 15, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

Only 45 minutes from our Chicago-suburban home in Illinois is a nice stretch of Lake Michigan beach over the border in Indiana. We time the day to begin with lunch at Depot Dog, which we affectionately refer to as the “weenie wagon.” Meet some of our faves: (l-r) the Razz-Do, chili dog, and Chicago-style Polish. […]

Good (and Cheap) Reads for Young Adults (and Adults)

June 5, 2011.Reading time 6 minutes.

“If it’s not good enough for adults, it’s not good enough for children. If a book that is going to be marketed for children does not interest me, a grownup, then I am dishonoring the children for whom the book is intended, and I am dishonoring books.” –Madeleine L’Engle Not only should children read, they […]