NOTE: written a loooong time ago when I worked in a public office in Downtown Long Beach “Let’s see if you can understand …” even as the words tip-toed through her pulled-tight lips, there was doubt. She said she fills her backpack with little birdies and crayola and writes about envy and love Who could…

The room — cold enough to pull up the hair on a pair of thin, freckled arms — fills slowly. The television — on the wall facing an audience of side-by-side mothers — jokes loudly.   The eyes — wet with the secret of the hour and lashed with shame — open rarely.  A woman in…

Cream-colored milk filled the cream-colored bowl and layered over a handful of frosted, wheat squares as the tale of his day spilled out onto the kitchen counter. At 7 a.m., he woke up. At 7:30 a.m., he brushed his teeth. At 8 a.m., he dropped me off at school, then broke the speed limit on…