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- Naomi - How can I describe the massage Naomi gave me in the motel, the last night we were together? That was months ago. When she was done I felt I had disappeared. She was remembering my body as she stroked it. With each touch I felt myself being lifted to the canvas of her mind as a person she had once been with. Though I knew what she was doing, I did not make her stop. I was already victim to loneliness.
- The Red and the Black - Only the two of us met at the Time Cafe that spring afternoon. Sure, I’d considered that the other women in her memoir-writing group would be jealous! But I wasn’t a kid kissing up to the teacher. As far as I was concerned, my request to meet only with Moira was about taking responsibility for myself. I was looking for a serious writer who wanted to exchange work. I didn’t need her clever writing exercises to get my juices going; I’d been working a long time on an impressionistic memoir about my Mother’s death and I wanted a reaction.
- The Toe Ring - “It makes me feel invisible, like I’m in some kind of limbo.” “I know who you are.” “But--some of us need to hear our name!” “I don't always say my patients' names at the start of the session.” “You didn’t say my name, Dr. Stoner--not once during my last two sessions. Maybe it’s my twin stuff--if you don't say Lauren, I'll think I'm Laurel.”
- Pearly Gates Dating Service - I had to get up earlier than usual and be on the street by seven. My colleague, Helen, wanted to have coffee with me, in my class room, before the kids swooped in. This was pushing me. I prefer to shuffle to the subway, close my eyes to sourpuss passengers and meditate myself to work.
- Digital Addiction and Alienation: AKA, Words with Friends - I swore I’d never be like one of those smug young-uns involved with their on-line games and endless twitters. But it’s seductive: once you’ve entered Bill Gate’s dream, you don’t have to fret the world anymore. You clasp your little rectangular gizmo and voila! You’ve made it to space-out Ville with all the other droids.
Jeri Hilderley 