It’s been said there’s nothing more powerful than the elements: sun, moon, wind, or rain. But there is something stronger than the force of nature. It’s a mother’s love. So it was that Mary Neese braved today’s scorching heat and high humidity to dedicate a bench to her daughter, Skylar, Read more…
If you google “Skylar Neese,” you’ll find the once-missing teenager’s name appears about 150,000 times online. Articles can be seen in publications like the UK’s Guardian, or the Huffington Post. Her case has been mentioned on TV shows like CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, CBS News and, very soon, NBC’s Dateline. Read more…
There is just too much news, from all over the world. It flows in faster than I can keep up. Faster than many news organizations can keep up with it—much less a solo Lois Lane like me. So tonight, as this Memorial Day 2013 draws to a close, I’m going Read more…
That just about says it all. But it certainly doesn’t tell the backstory. I think I’ve been speaking in public since I was about ten. Rarely do I get nervous. My TED talk was different. Maybe that’s because you know the status given to TED talks. Okay, so this wasn’t Read more…
It isn’t going to be easy and every day will be a struggle. Maybe not a physical fight to survive but certainly a psychological one. Some days you will do battle just to be happy. From time to time you will even look back and think dying would have been easier. Read more…
While the rest of the East Coast was waiting out (or wading out from under) Hurricane Sandy, I was learning how to be a better writer. I also learned one indie author’s secret to selling a million e-books in a year. The lessons came from some women who have perfected Read more…
In January, my friend Sheila and I went to Mexico for our mutual friend Olga’s wedding. We knew a little Spanish, but not much. An hour after our plane landed, we got into a car with two men, strangers we had never met, and began a one-hour journey to our Read more…
This morning I woke up from a dream in which I was trying to find a colorful clause to go with the verb “giggled,” as in “like a little girl.” That’s what happens when you go to a writing workshop taught by Jim Minick, author of several books, including The Read more…
If you happen to be in Bellefonte, Pa., today to show support for the Penn State victims–or for Gerald Sandusky’s preliminary hearing–and you see a blonde woman carting a satchel of books, it’s me. I’m not lukewarm, but am either hot or cold: sometimes I take days or weeks to Read more…
Having waited more than 20 years to hear Maya Angelou speak, I was not disappointed when she appeared at West Virginia University Friday night. I doubt the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, among many other books, knows how to disappoint. I was a little surprised she Read more…