By Julia Connolly Yellow-tinted aviator shades. Brown leather safari jacket. Tan patent leather fake Gucci slip-ons. Dirty-blond home perm. Marlboro. He was Frank, the 30-something Vietnam vet who sat next to me […]
Downstate with Frank
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Bad Mom Abroad
By Julia Connolly I got pregnant the week we moved to London, crawling out of my jet lag stupor long enough to make a baby. At 41 I was pushing it, but […]
Autism Anniversary
By Julia Connolly Fifteen years ago today, 15 years ago right now, I learned my son has autism. For months, I’d explained his behavior away, telling myself he didn’t respond to me […]
The Princess and the Pixie
By Julia Connolly As a young child, I had long, blonde hair and was princess of all I surveyed. Friends of my parents even called me “Grace,” as in “Princess Grace,” thank […]
Strip Club Girl
By Julia Connolly When I was a 19-year-old college student, I briefly dated a guy who was a bartender in a strip club. And by “dated,” I mean that I’d sit at […]
Mountains and DNA
By Julia Connolly Driving up the crumbling mountain road I’m bombarded by metaphors, snuck up on by similes. As we near the site of the wedding I’m silently singing the words to […]
Lifelong Learning
By Julia Connolly When I signed up for the class through the college’s lifelong learning program I didn’t realize I’d be the baby of the group. To a person, every other member […]
Sisterhood is Necessary
By Julia Connolly It was bad. I’d been in bed for three days, depressed, crawling out to handle only the most necessary of motherly duties. On the third day Stacy messaged me […]
The Gloria Sirens 