I just learned from the wonderful folks at University of Wisconsin Press that Meet Me Halfway, my collection of short stories about race relations in Milwaukee, has an official release date of April 21, 2015. I’m really excited to have the date in hand because now I can ask you: * Are you part of […]

This weekend I’m going to learn to drive. No, not cars. Horses. Why? Because when I heard about the horse-driving clinic being held at a local stable, my heart and mind lit up with the possibilities: What if on my dream homestead — the one I don’t own yet — I used horse power to […]

Unsticking the Stuck: Going Farther in Your Writing Through Awareness of Self-Imposed Boundaries Sat. 18 Oct. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sun. 19 Oct. 12 noon-4 p.m. $95 (or just $85 with pre-registration) Email driftlesswritingcenter@gmail.com to register. A weekend writers intensive at the Driftless Writing Center in Viroqua, Wisconsin — Come spend an autumn weekend with your […]

It’s so easy for writing to become revenge. I don’t mean this that way. And I apologize in advance for depicting my nemesis in this story as a toothless hick. I really do. Last Sunday, Keren and I attended a picnic put on by a church we are considering joining. The first time we visited […]

To observe my first End of the World Friday #eotwf — where we admit our fears about the planet and try to imagine sustainable futures — I’m going to tell you about my deep fear of plastic. Your Dasani bottle makes me shudder— it’s true! — as does my computer keyboard, my grandmother’s costume jewelry, […]

I may be one of the least nostalgic people in the world. I’ve never posted a Facebook picture of me in polyester shorts for Throwback Thursdays. I happily pitched my high school and college yearbooks in the recycling bin during a recent move. In my closet, there are two giant tubs of documentation on my […]

There is one brand of shampoo sold in the U.S. whose entire line seems to contain a particular Jennifer-repelling chemical. When I get an unfortunate whiff of any of their products, my synesthetic brain screams “Ack! Please, no. Not the ‘white, ridged plastic’ smell!”* Nothing else in my experience of the world so far generates […]

It’s been almost a month since Keren and I settled in the country. “Settled” might be too strong a word. We’re still trying to figure out how things — mechanical, institutional, structural or natural — work. I guess we’re settling in the same sense you settle into a cool lake on a steamy day: You […]

29 April 2014 Magdalena is my student in a visual arts/literary arts residency at a local middle school. When I first met her, at the start of the semester, I thought she had a disability — speech or cognition, social at least. At first, she wouldn’t speak above a whisper. In large-group discussions, I had […]

[Spring has sprung! After a long hiatus due to technological challenges with my old website, I’m pleased to announce the restart of my blog and the debut of my new website, at the very same www.moraleswrites.com.] A Tiger in the House I’m teaching a writing workshop at a local middle school this spring, a collaboration […]