21 Jan 25 All the rooms in mom’s house were irregular, the lines along the ceilings sloped or sagging. The toilet in her bathroom angled downwards. The problem I had with the old photos and going through them was they… Read More ›
Creative Nonfiction
Farmlands and homelands
20 Jan 25 It is another night with the heat pad. The ancient looking heater by my bed worked for a few days but then I made the mistake of fiddling with the knobs (there’s no clear on/off logic) and… Read More ›
First Sunday in Germany
19 Jan 25 I went to Uwe and Miriam’s house on Schwalbenhälde and told them about our time at the hardware store trying to replace mom’s Küchenwasserhahn. No matter how well you communicate your problem, people working in hardware stores… Read More ›
The case for spending your time vs. taking it
I went back up the Himmelsleiter but took a different route. It was my first time here in January. After a moody walk in the Jack the Ripper fog the night before I was ready for a walk in the… Read More ›
The days run away like wild horses over the hills
15 Jan 25 Another sleepless trap, tonight in my mom’s 15th-century house, below freezing outdoors and not much different in. She wasn’t joking about how cold it gets. There’s no heat to speak of that makes it to the bathrooms… Read More ›
Before coffee got automated
Thirty years ago I joined Starbucks in Philadelphia as a manager-in-training, my fourth coffee shop job in four years. I’d work in downtown Philadelphia for a year, then transfer to a Starbucks on Mercer Island, near Seattle, the next summer…. Read More ›
The remember when
We would have rung in the new year in the Pennsylvania house, my third and last Christmas with Shana, the year mom and John gifted us airfare to Europe, my first time there. Like most rookie tourists we’d jam all… Read More ›
Coming of age, firsts and lasts
For years the days flowed from an endless tap, the morning waves at the bus stop goodbye, the evening kisses goodnight. The cycle of days spinning to weekends, holidays, to new seasons, the coming of age: a first crush, the… Read More ›
Things that I will keep
The narrative recounts a trip from Stratford to London, reflecting on themes of unemployment, nostalgia, and family experiences.
Where are we now?
I’d never flown into Germany in January and pictured it somehow colder and wetter, though resolved to make do for four weeks with just rolled-up clothes in my carryon and not check a bag. Bono had written an essay on… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 