Tag: father daughter relationship

Lessons in Healing From the Aisles of Target

Summer Hammond

August 2016             I’m kneeling in the aisle like a worshipper dropping tears into the white ceramic shell of an armadillo.             What else would you do on your inaugural Target run in a new town you thought you would love but don’t even like? Read more

Summer Hammond

Summer Hammond grew up in rural Iowa and Missouri. After parting ways with her faith, she went on to earn a BA in Literature, teach ninth grade reading, and achieve her MFA from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. She is the author of three unpublished novels. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Sonora Review, StoryQuarterly, Moon City Review, and Tahoma Review. She is the winner of the 2023 New Letters Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction.

Fathers

Emily Algar

I give until I break I keep trying even though my mother tells me to let go. I thought I had you back After 7 years of hopes crushed, self-esteem broken I even tell you as much But then you’re gone again And my heart breaks in two just as Read more

Emily Algar

Emily Frances Algar is a journalist and writer. She has experience in the music industry working as the A&R on the Grammy Nominated Album (Best Folk Album) Front Porch by artist Joy Williams. Emily has been published in a number of print and digital publications including Atwood Magazine, American Songwriter, and Record Collector magazine. She specializes in both long and short-form features as well as interviews and reviews. She has written pieces ranging from the commercialization of feminism and feminism in popular culture, critiques surrounding freedom of speech and the #MeToo movement as well as recently interviewing refugees from Iran. Emily has a Masters in International Security from Oxford Brookes University. Her thesis looked at the extent to which the media shaped public opinion during the Vietnam and Iraq (2003) wars.

Sabado Gigante: A Saturday Night Tradition With My Father

Dori Owen

My father and I had a unique tradition on Saturday nights. We spent this night together for years. First, during summers when he would drive from Arizona to the cooler climes of Southern California to where I had escaped my small town roots. Later, as he grew older and frailer, Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

A Tale of Two Daddies

Virginia and Donna

(… it was the best of times… it was the worst of times.) In the course of more than twenty-five years of friendship (and writing seven books together), we have discussed pretty much every subject under the sun at least a dozen times, and in a variety of moods from Read more

Virginia and Donna

VIRGINIA DEBERRY: Prior to becoming a successful plus-size model, Vice President of BB/LW modeling agency, spokesperson for Hanes Hosiery, editor-in-chief of Maxima magazine and bestselling novelist, Virginia taught high school English for 10 years. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Virginia currently resides in New Jersey where she is social media consultant and a founder of the New Brunswick Jazz Project, a non-profit jazz presenting organization. She also blogs about aging with style, wit and wisdom. DONNA GRANT: Donna spent more than a decade as a model, represented by the 12+ division of Ford. She has been featured on the pages of many magazines including Essence and McCall’s. Grant served as the Managing Editor of Maxima before her writing career. She attended Barnard College and is a graduate of New York University. A Brooklyn native, Donna is at work on a children’s book and is a founder of Footsteps to Follow, a group that presents career path information to youth in the five boroughs. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Best friends for nearly 30 years and writing together for 20, DeBerry & Grant are the “author” of seven novels: Uptown, Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made, Far From the Tree, Better Than I Know Myself, Gotta Keep on Tryin’, What Doesn’t Kill You, and Exposures.

Acceptance Plea

Natasha Alexander

You’re disappointed Yet I love you still My hair is too dark Yet I love you still My body is never perfect Yet I love you still Why are you never happy? When will I win your heart? You never have time Yet I love you still You always find Read more

Natasha Alexander

Writer, always Wife and Mother first. Perfect is overrated, I am flawed and yet loved. Now that I don’t chase perfection, I can chase my dreams. I have completed a "Write a Novel" course in 2015 through S.A. Writers’ College and passed with a distinction. I also completed the Copy-Editing and Proof-reading course through them in March 2016. My first Manuscript of 60 000 words has been written and currently seeking a publisher. I have been writing poetry since I was 14 and the reason/inspiration behind all my writing is a stand against women abuse. It is a cause that I hold close to heart. Something that started as an outlet for feelings too ghastly to speak about has turned into my passion.