Although it was midwinter, the air coming in through the front windows of the Nissan Versa was balmy. The radio was tuned to a local station. It was playing Air Supply’s “Out of Nothing at All.” This is one of those songs you turn the volume up and allow yourself the one brief moment of karaoke stardom as you belt out your lungs. As the high notes hit, I’m feeling …
Vince Hamilton has no legs.
For that matter, he has lost the tips to most of his fingers as well. It made opening soda cans almost impossible. So when I saw him for the first time, my immediate reaction was one of sympathy.
He had been admitted from a nursing home with a swollen red finger nubbin. It wasn’t hard to figure out it wasn’t his first time around this rodeo from …
“Hey, did you hear the news?” Tanya, my long-time friend, texts, referring to a social media post.
It is peculiar (even perplexing) we get our news this way. “In a relationship,” engagements, weddings, buns-in-ovens. Baby pictures, white beaches, sunsets. Those are happy news.
Then there are the break-ups, the “not-in-a-relationship,” the I-hate-my-job rants. These posts are intense. The need for drama goads me into wanting to know more about the people’s not-so-secret …
This question resonates in my mind each day I pass through the prison gatehouse. The gatehouse is a physical barrier and a mental one, separating the outside from the inside, seceding the lives of people who guard and care for inmates from the lives of those within.
Each morning, the gatehouse is abuzz with activity as people file into work. It’s like going through airport security. Every single day. If you …
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