Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

My Last Christmas with Mom

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My fondest Christmas memory In September, 2012, my brother and I helped move my mother, age 91, to her own apartment in a retirement home in Rochester, just five minutes from me. A month or so later, she suffered compression fractures in her spine. COPD and a heart condition then took a toll. Before we knew it, Thelma had a pacemaker, was wheelchair bound and on oxygen. Still of sound mind, … [Read more...]

You are forever changed – sexual misconduct

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If you've ever been shown a penis... Jennifer Wright asked Twitter "Hey women: retweet if you've ever been shown a penis you did not want or expect to see" on November 9th, 2017. There are 177,00 retweets and counting. The responses are staggering. "The first time I was in second grade." "I was in a park, holding my young son." "The first time this happened to me I was 6. In a K-Mart toy … [Read more...]

What, Why, How: Marcy Dermansky

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What: I write fiction: three novels so far and short stories. I have written the occasional essay but mainly that isn’t what I do. My newest novel The Red Car recently came out in paperback. I am also the author of Bad Marie, which is how Linda first found me, and Twins. And I keep a journal, which is a combination of the stereotypical what is my life kind of writing, lists of things that I need … [Read more...]

Ladybugs, children and understanding death

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It's hard to believe it's been nearly six years since my son Derek died. Sometimes reminders fly at you from the most unlikely places. One such time was at a recent Poetry at the Farmhouse series. When pet bugs die: At the Farmhouse, poet Robert Fanning explained his son, at four, didn't fully grasp the passing of his aunt until his ladybug friend died. The poem about that incident, from Fanning's … [Read more...]

Taken too soon

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Earlier this year I discovered the infant section at Mount Avon Cemetery. Eleven babies in all. They were hard to find because the stones were nearly completely grown over. I imagine the parents have moved out of town and are no longer able to tend to their sites, but they keep their little ones forever in their hearts. I spent a couple hours cleaning them up. Joshua Daniel Friedle, … [Read more...]