I'm Trick Dog Trainer, the co-host of the podcast This Animal Life, and the author two books, the memoir, For the Love of a Dog, (Harmony Books), and the novel, Body Sharers (Rutgers University Press). Body Sharers placed among the finalists for the PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for Best First Novel. Recent honors include finalist for the 2017 Frank McCourt Memoir Prize, winner of the 2016 Briar Cliff Review Nonfiction Award, winner of the 2013 Florida Review Editor’s Award, and a Best American Essays 2015 Notable Essay. I teach creative writing and dog training in Tampa Bay.
Mother’s Day’s coming, a time to give and receive flowers, many of which include roots, the promise of perennial life, and dread. Here’s how to ensure you and your new orchid love each other year after year.
To help you understand what it takes to have the kind of success Ann’s enjoying right now, I asked her a few questions, and here’s what she said.
“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”—Dolly Parton
When people doubt your right to be somewhere, the responsibility falls on you to prove over and over again that you deserve to be there.–Stacey Abrams
“If you stay alive for no other reason at all, please do it for spite.” – Maria Bamford, Comedian
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. Gail Sheehy, American Author, Journalist
“Trans kids are just like other kids, and it’s not all about my gender. I often say that my gender is the least exciting thing about me. I have a bunch of other things that I do, things that I love.” Rebekah Bruesehoff, 13-yr-old transgender activist
They say depression has tripled in the United States since the start of the pandemic, with corresponding increases in suicide rates, domestic abuse, and addictions. If you’re feeling down or even desperate, and scrolling through puppy pictures just isn’t enough for you, consider teaching a dog a trick. And here’s why:
“Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.”—Joanne Ciulla, Philosopher of Leadership Ethics
“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.”—Amy Poehler
