An Apple A Day
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
She’s been silently enjoying her lunch. Though she’s consuming soup she blows quietly to cool it, like whispering over a sleeping child,…
Is this a Dream?
“Daddy?” The boy is between his father and mother in the plane. His little legs so short that they stick straight out when he is moved back in the seat … Continue reading
I Am So Grateful To Write
I seemed to have lost an eye for merely exterior detail and to have discovered, instead, a deep sense of respect and love and pity for the souls that such … Continue reading
Young Love
Once the light turns green, the silver SUV blasts off, only to come to a halt at the next stoplight. This catches the attention of others on the road, who note … Continue reading
Corner Pocket
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
It doesn’t seem fair to give too many details, since she didn’t know she’d be on the record. She challenged my friend…
Because I am Learning
The clerks at the market wear the same black polo shirts, the same nametags, the same gazes up from where they sit to where customers stand. When it is my … Continue reading
Notes from Home
I’m watching an older man in a patterned shirt–some sort of Earth-toned hexagons–eating his dinner with one hand while holding his cell phone in the other. As I’m taking notes … Continue reading
Screening
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
Emir, one of the men working at security, introduces himself. Polite, friendly, grinning and testing his English. Austrian airport security seems a…
My Interview with Karma
I guess the headline sounds like something bad showed up at my door (or something good!). 🙂 The interviewer was my former college roommate Karma Chavez, though we didn’t tell … Continue reading
Her Point of View
The woman totes water in heavy blue jugs. In the shade, the spot is cool–in the sun, the spot is temperate. Winter and summer must be severe, but October is … Continue reading
Airport Starbucks: No, I am not an Inspector
The people at Starbucks always spell my name Peych (or Peç), so I answer to it. At the Ataturk airport Starbucks, a barista with very dark, but well-groomed eyebrows calls, … Continue reading
Roll With It
It’s a long line at the grocery store on a Friday afternoon and everyone is staring into space, sighing, or frowning–even yours truly. I always get a basket rather than … Continue reading
Interview with Rachael Hanel
The awesome and prolific Rachael Hanel, author of We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter, interviewed me for her blog this week. It … Continue reading
Solo Flight
The little girl stands on the porch of the family business and talks to herself. She’s in the middle of a fascinating one-way conversation. She waves an imaginary friend over … Continue reading
Write Little Things Which You Think Are True
The artist is learning a special language in which to reveal truth. If you write, write from the heart, yet carefully, objectively. Never pose. Write little things which you think … Continue reading
Helpful
When I get to 12D and place my bag in the carry-on space, a woman in her seventies is standing at 12B holding up her boarding pass for me to … Continue reading
Taxi Tidy
The man with distinguished gray hair wears tan loafers, navy slacks, a powder blue dress shirt under a brown vest. He looks dashing, and he’s sweeping. He clears cigarette butts, … Continue reading
Here You Are!
I understand a translation of “Buyurun,” the exclamation of the two young boys, is “Here you are!” They are calling it out, toting two huge bunches of flowers that they … Continue reading
Kindred Kid
She is wearing a magenta rain jacket with floral buttons. She’s probably in fourth grade, maybe fifth or sixth. She’s been watching me out of the corner of the eye … Continue reading
You’re a Stray and That’s Okay
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
The woman proudly marches with a designer purse and sunglasses, but she also totes a plastic bag of cat food. She stops…
The Nice Thing About Strangers 