Vela

Private Ceremonies

Patricia O'Connor — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:00:44 +0000

I had only a minute while I waited for the doctor to meet my patient. I grabbed a plastic cup and a pregnancy test from the lab and slipped into the bathroom. This is one of the perks of working at an abortion clinic – all the pregnancy tests you can take. My husband Jeff [...]

Lessons of Grief

Amy Butcher — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:00:14 +0000

The day that it happened, the United States Postal Service unveiled The Simpson’s collectors’ set—a five-stamp commemorative booklet featuring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, each set against solid, neon backgrounds. A father in Cheyenne, Wyoming took a hammer to his daughter’s cell phone after learning the girl, thirteen, sent and received 20,000 text messages [...]

Map to Motherland

Molly Beer — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:00:17 +0000

This morning, Steven and I woke up late and tired because our two-year-old had been up twice in the night dreaming about scary dinosaurs and then there was an incident with a rat in our bedroom. Now, in my cold Mexican kitchen, I am “sproaching” eggs in sugar cane vinegar and picking rodent-gnawed fruit out [...]

Waiting to Be

Sarah Menkedick — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:54:49 +0000

Here is what waiting to be feels like. It feels like that one trilled song of a morning bird, a single note curled upwards in the stillness, and it should be poignant but you are on the Internet. Get off, get off, get off. It feels like trying to peel yourself away from Dave’s ESL [...]