by Jennifer Anthony In the days that led up to Thanksgiving, I used every tactic I knew of to bring up the topic of the four-day weekend. I was excited to spend time with my family and extended family in Yosemite National Park, but my real excuse for broaching the subject was the excuse to…
by Jennifer Anthony Four men blast propane gas into the mouth of the hot air balloon. Belly expanding, the balloon gulps in the flame and waits for the next burst. Its rainbow of colors pop against the neutral blue sky. It is seven a.m., and neither the sky nor the future passengers watching the balloon…
by Jennifer Anthony Sunday morning. The Inverness Ridge forest just beyond the balcony of the bed and breakfast is coated with fog. It is seven a.m., and everyone seems to still be asleep, or at least cocooned and hushed by the mist. But soon a few brave birds manage a timid twitter, a hummingbird’s steady…
by Jennifer Anthony Saturday morning in the Haight. I sit just outside San Francisco’s Circus Center , soaking up the warm February sun. As a steady stream of people parade by me, I am tempted to hum Sesame Street’s, “One of these kids doesn’t belong here, one of these kids isn’t the same…” The regulars…
by Jennifer Anthony The Princess of Wales waits at the harbor early in the morning on an uncharacteristically warm March Saturday. After a week of rain and dreariness, it is 52 degrees, and sunny. A cerulean sky gazes down at the brigade of boats bobbing in the water. Chunky cumulus clouds bumble around the horizon,…
by Jennifer Anthony “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” Alfred Joyce Kilmer’s Trees has been a bit of a joke in my family ever since one of my brothers, then a shy teenager, was coerced into reciting it in front of our church’s congregation. We were young and…
by Jennifer Anthony I proved that I would never be a rocket scientist when I was thirteen years old. My English class had just finished reading Orwell’s barely futuristic masterpiece and the test question was meant to be a giveaway, really. What year does this book take place? it read. I scribbled in the current…