Tennis #52essays2017 no. 9
I’ve realized that all these essays I’m writing are about dead people or their stuff, or both. My family is full of dead people, and they owned an awful lot…
The Bourbon Decanter #52essays2017 no. 8
My father was a drinker, if not a drunk. Opinions vary on whether or not he was an alcoholic. I think he was, though I’ve heard arguments against it, but…
Letter To My Seventeen-Year-Old Self #52essays2017 no. 7
Dear Laura, You won’t always hate your body. You will grow into it. It’s not that you’ll grow any taller — sorry about that — but you’ll grow comfortable in…
Papers #52essays2017 no. 6
It is not possible to describe the amount of stuff there was in my grandmother’s house. She would admit, I think, to being a hoarder of paper, though she was…
Blue Skies #52essays2017 no. 5
The sky is blue, the NASA website tells me, because the white light from the sun gets scattered by the earth’s atmosphere and the blue light waves, which are shortest,…
To Write #52essays2017 no. 4
To write I need an opening line. Preferably I need an excellent opening line, one that gets me in the middle of something, ties me up in knots I have…
I’m Not Sure We’d Be Speaking #52essays2017 no. 3
While I miss him daily, I often reflect that it’s just as well my father isn’t around to discuss politics with me. While other people have to deal with the…
Nightmares #52essays2017 no. 2
I am alone in a grassy valley, and a train car carrying all of my family and friends is pulling away from me up the hill. I try to run…
The Things of the Dead #52essays2017 no. 1
I’m doing this #52essays2107 challenge. This is the first one. I am 41 years old and I have not yet learned that the dead no longer inhabit the objects they…
An Introduction to Sara Paretsky
Sara Paretsky received the Paul Engle Prize, awarded by Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and sponsored by the City of Coralville a little over a year ago. After the…