North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green has a plan for her second term: she wants to induct a student poet laureate in every high...[Read More]
All posts by Barbara Presnell
Don’t get me wrong: I love my guy poets. Edgar Allan Poe and his “tintinnabulation of the bells” and “Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore,’” give me...[Read More]
I begin with apology for all I didn’t know. I didn’t know that European traders, three years before the Pilgrims, brought yellow fever to the...[Read More]
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through.” She looks at me through faded eyes shadowed by aging skin and white hair. She didn’t have...[Read More]
Was this you? Snuggled under sheets after you’d been sent to bed, a flashlight aimed toward the pages of an open book, your eyes wide...[Read More]
The number of older adults, especially women, taking care of their children’s children has grown considerably in recent years, but the pandemic, and the closing...[Read More]
My maternal grandmother—we called her Mama Bunting—made the best 4-layer chocolate that I will ever eat, with deep, dark chocolate layers and deep, dark chocolate...[Read More]
There’s a doorway in the middle of my hallway. I discovered it only after living in this house, an old one with many stories to...[Read More]
It seems to come out of nowhere. Maybe you’re watching television, reading, or playing with the children. Maybe you’re laughing, talking, or simply being quiet...[Read More]
My paternal grandmother was part Cherokee, and, therefore, so was I. This is what I heard all my life, from my youngest days into adulthood....[Read More]