Say What in Santa Cruz

(re-run) Jennifer met Brad at San Leandro High school in the Bay Area. She wasn’t allowed to date, but she was allowed to go to junior prom. The next year Brad asked Jennifer to Senior Ball. It was in San Francisco, and afterward, they went to Pier 39 with everyone else in their limo. Brad… Continue reading Say What in Santa Cruz

Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

“Are you going to eat all that?” I was sitting at a table in the teachers’ lounge, my lunch spread out before me. There was a sandwich, a red apple, carrot sticks and a glass of juice, maybe a chocolate or two. Why was the teacher I barely knew commenting on my lunch? How was… Continue reading Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

Parking Lot Pick-up

(re-run) Edith and her friend, Laura, were bored. It was Saturday night, and they’d been at their all-girls’ school, Holy Names, for a whole week. It was time to find some guys, to find a party. They pulled into Berkeley and headed for Fraternity Row. Laura spotted someone she had dated before and rolled down… Continue reading Parking Lot Pick-up

Hold the Crunch

(re-run) Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into slivers, and another machine used pistons to plug the slivers into the creamy product. Jim also had to taste test peanut butter that had been sitting on a shelf for three months in 100 degree… Continue reading Hold the Crunch

Almost Toast

(re-run) Marlene and her friend Beth came out to California from New Hampshire after college to work for Bank of America. They each made a new friend, and each new friend brought another friend to the party (plus one more) until they were a group of seven recent college graduates, living in the city of… Continue reading Almost Toast

The Dog That Everyone Wanted

(re-run) Scott heard from Joe, a college buddy, that someone was giving away a four-month-old puppy that had cost them $300. It was a mix of Jack Russell terrier and something bigger.  The family felt bad that they were gone all day, and the puppy was crated every day for hours. Scott thought about the… Continue reading The Dog That Everyone Wanted

Pennies from Heaven

(re-run) When I was sixteen, I saved up my babysitting money and went downtown to Cottage Grove Avenue in Des Moines, where there was a head shop filled with incense, hanging beads, roach clips, black light posters and tie dye. Although I wasn’t a pothead (I didn’t smoke cigarettes either), I enjoyed the ambience of… Continue reading Pennies from Heaven

Worst Professor Ever

She taught the research class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I needed the course to earn my master’s degree. It would be easy. I’d written dozens of research papers at Iowa State. She said we could choose any topic. All we had to do was take a position, defend it with an intro,… Continue reading Worst Professor Ever