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Getting In Trouble

A secret letter, a political message, a kindergarten rebel

Odd One Out

A frustrated virgin, a thwarted athlete, a female firefighter

What I Heard

You do not have cramps. That’s invented by women who want attention. We don’t go in for that kind of malingering — that’s what it is. You have cramps because you eat too fast. You don’t chew.

Lost Cause

My dad’s name was Ed, but his friends called him Eddie. In old photos he is Jack Nicholson handsome, with devilish good looks and a mischievous gleam in his eye. I can see why my mom fell for him.

Upstairs

Riding with strangers, praying to Mary, looking for fire

Bad Habits

Sexual fantasies, false pretenses, needless apologies

Mischief

A teenage vandal, a burning secret, a sexual awakening

The Salt Seas Of The Heart

A Tribute To Brian Doyle

You believed that everything is a form of prayer, including laughter, including tears. Yes, you were a reverential man, but you weren’t stiff or boring or preachy or dour. Your essays were both concise — often just a page in length — and lush, your sentences as intricate and twisty as plants in a terrarium. You combined prose and poem (and prayer, you said) to bear witness to the miracles around us.