beth​woolsey.

Today, undone on the unending List of Things I Must Do If Not Right Now Then Yesterday, is mostly everything, so I started to write about that. There is dirt under my ragged fingernails because, once I started on a Patch of Weeds, I was unstoppable. My jeans are muddy. My shoes are filthy. So…

For years, I thought I wasn’t a hiker. I mock my Marine father for it, for he’s the ecstatic Aussie shepherd who nipped at my heals on forced marches up mountains, and so he killed my love of the hike with his unending enthusiasm and zest. In my more contemplative moments, I remember my exasperation…

I talked recently to one of the youths who frequents my home about a thrashing, wiggling, wild conversation they’d had with a parental figure in which the parent said, basically, I’m so, so, so, so, so, so proud of you and all the Things you’ve accomplished, and, WOW, what a Success you are, except in…

I dunno, I guess I’ve always thought there are Prom People and non-Prommers, you know? Like, I’m not into binaries–I’m very anti-either/or–until you get to the trappings of popularity in our status-focused American culture, and then I’m all, NOPE NO PROM FOR ME THANK YOU because it was never a place I felt like I…