whitegirlmistakes

Movin’ On Up

When I met the father of my children, he was just starting a job for a new project at the Black YMCA in Chicago. (Yes, Y’s were segregated.) Jobs Now aimed to get corporations to hire Blacks. I was surprised that the focus was on jobs, when, in the late sixties, it seemed to meContinue reading “Movin’ On Up”

War Story

My mother dampened clothes with a sprinkler bottle, rolled them up and let them sit before she started ironing. My father had a screwdriver for tightening or a hammer for pounding whatever had loosened up over the week as my brothers flew through the house. I came in off the street with salt on myContinue reading “War Story”

White Wife/Blue Baby

I’m using the title White Wife/Blue Baby for my forthcoming memoir. When the phrase first hit me, my psychological hair stood on end. I married across the color line in ‘68, and our daughter was born not getting enough oxygen, two facts with ambulance sirens attached to them. When I first referred to my titleContinue reading “White Wife/Blue Baby”

Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary

Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary Fifty-five years ago today I found out that Martin Luther King had been shot when I heard someone snickering and snorting. A man was walking by the hospital room of the friend I’d come to visit. We could hear the crackle of the transistor radio the guy was listening to,Continue reading “Today April 4 MLK’s Anniversary”

The Wind’s Fault

Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash Learning the Palmer Method took everything I had. No matter how slowly I went, no matter how carefully I concentrated on the fat, gorgeous script on the blackboard, my capital letters came out squashed like bread packed in the bottom of a grocery bag. And wrapping your mouth aroundContinue reading “The Wind’s Fault”

Denial, My Superpower

Should you ask your abuser to recommend a therapist to help you get over his abuse? In the psychology field, this is referred to as disassociation. You simply disconnect from an experience that is beyond bearing. But I didn’t forget Monsignor Fitzgerald’s assault. My feeling was more like what would become known as the StockholmContinue reading “Denial, My Superpower”

The Immaculate Conception

The Blessed Mother was celebrated this last December 8 for being untouched by sin. As a virgin, she was also untouched by sex, our Catholic teachers insisted, though nothing in scripture tells us that. For the faithful, sex and sin were extremely close. So when my six-foot Catholic pastor shoved me up against a wallContinue reading “The Immaculate Conception”

Interracial Marriage, Updated

In what CNN described as a ‘landmark bipartisan vote” the Senate passed a bill Tuesday protecting same-sex marriage. Hooray for a preemptive strike! The bill also protects interracial marriage, something we thought was already entirely safe given the Supreme Court’s 1967 Loving vs. Virginia decision. But now we have an anything-goes Supreme Court. Who knowsContinue reading “Interracial Marriage, Updated”

Things to be Thankful For: Medicine Coffee

“Give me something that looks nice that I can run in,” I’d said to the salesman at Hawley Lane Shoes. And he did. I had just learned that we had been awarded a four-year grant to strengthen the academic skills of lively but less-than-focused high school students. These students needed to know that if theyContinue reading “Things to be Thankful For: Medicine Coffee”

Coming to a Bookstore near You!

The good news – the stomp-and-yell good news — is that my memoir, White Wife/Blue Baby, has been accepted for publication. When will it come out, everyone asks. It’s too early to know. But it’s in the queue at All Things That Matter Press. (https://allthingsthatmatterpress.com/) When I got the ATTM email message stating, “We wantContinue reading “Coming to a Bookstore near You!”