Published stories and screenplays

The Part That’s True

Twelve of us—a strange little group—shuffled into the stuffy room, claiming our complimentary water bottles. We were curious to learn more about Transcendental Meditation, an ancient spiritual practice most of us probably discovered on YouTube. For me, it was a video made by filmmaker David Lynch. He holds up a half-eaten donut and says, “Transcendental Meditation is much sweeter than this donut; it gives the experience of the sweetest nectar of life, pure bliss consciousness.” Lynch then uses quantum physics to describe the feeling of transcending, and while I didn’t understand much of it, I liked that something spiritual could be explained with a confection. Perhaps the others were brought in by celebrity statements from Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, or Russell Brand, who have all expressed devotion to TM... continue reading



Morning Bird

You were ironing clothes or watching reruns of I Love Lucy on the television behind me. The windows were open, letting in the first smells of spring, and the walls of your bedroom were painted in sunlight. I sat on the edge of your bed, my feet dangling a foot above the floor, and stared out the window. Our backyard was being renovated and I couldn’t take my eyes off the mounds being pushed around by massive trucks, big heaps of metal that reminded me of the yellow Tonka truck I’d push through midday shadows on the cream-colored carpet. Soon I’d have a yard to throw the baseball with Dad in on warm summer weekends, a green place to play war with Chris from across the street, a swamp to wade through on my blue plastic sled when the rains came. I felt drawn to the trucks’ powerful force... continue reading