Personal essays & creative non-fiction; traditional blogging full of anecdotes, opinion and humor.
written by Malinda Webb If you asked me in February what I would be doing at the end of July, my answer would not have included, “Writing a blog about the challenging decisions regarding the return to school during a worldwide pandemic.” I’m fairly confident that none of us expected to be here. Yet, here … More In This Together: School 2020
For the last three weeks, I haven’t been writing. When I finally felt capable of putting fingers to keys today, I wanted to work on my fiction or that series I was going to write about all the reasons I love Columbus. Instead, I couldn’t stop thinking about COVID-19 and what Columbus will look like … More Under Pressure
Morgan Harper is a progressive Democrat running to be the congressperson for Ohio’s 3rd district against incumbent Democrat Joyce Beatty who has been in office since 2012. Obviously, since moving to the 3rd District, I’ve voted for Beatty happily. When you’re up against Goliath, though, sometimes you need a David. Here’s why I’m voting for … More Why I’m Voting for Morgan Harper
When Kyle and I both managed to get five days off at the same time in January we immediately decided that we wanted to go somewhere warm. Through Kyle’s job with the airline, we’re able to “non-rev” (non-revenue) on flights for free or at very minimal cost (international flights). Non-revving is when you get to … More Saint Martin on Short Notice
Writing and publishing one blog post every month for 2019 was one of my new years resolutions last year and I am proud to announce that with this post, I will have successfully reached that goal! Here is my 2019 in review: This year I: taught myself how to do embroidery applied for a job … More One Last Post for 2019
Language is a dangerous thing not only for what is said but often because of what is left out, especially during history lessons. Slavery verses enslavement. The state of being a slave verses the action of making someone a slave. “Slavery” conjures images of black bodies in chains, laboring in cotton fields, and being sold … More Our Words Are Dangerous, Especially When We Don’t Use Them
In literature there is a bias against Romance. There is a pervasive belief amongst readers that a novel, where the driving plot device is a romantic relationship, cannot be considered Literature and is therefore unworthy of critique. Women call books with a busty corseted Queen their “guilty pleasure,” waving their hand in the air as … More The Crawdads Sing of Romance
Everyone knows that being alone and being lonely are not the same. Alone is a fun treat where you have the whole house to yourself: you can listen to your podcasts without headphones, eat ice cream for dinner, and not worry about someone else’s schedule. Lonely is when you start to putter. Putter around the … More What’s the Word for the State of Missing Someone?
For me, The Travel Bug goes by another name and that name is anxiety. When The Travel Bug (TTB) bites it leaves behind a virus which lays dormant until anytime between 6 weeks and 4 days before your trip. Often, if you’ve been bitten in the past, you will have built up some immunity to … More The Travel Bug
Part of librarianship is understanding of the purpose of your particular library. Libraries range from those with extremely specialized collections like museum, medical, and research to those with broader appeal like academic, primary school, and public. There are also archives, which can be described as a cross between a museum and a library. Knowing who … More Why Do Libraries Throw Away Books?
The Ohioan 