Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction She Makes a Story out of Everything xi
How Gumbo Was My Valley Lisa Landry 1
Whole Cloth Mimi Pond 3
Memories of a Boxing Broad Amy Lennard Goehner 6
Making a Girl Jianna Heuer 8
"That Sounds Awful": The Art of Self Care Lily Shell 10
Things to Do During a Blizzard Marge Piercy 12
The Vocation Patricia Russo 13
Smiling with No Teeth Nyanka J. 16
I Never LOST My Virginity Hara Estroff Marano 18
We Have Medicine for That Louisa Ballhaus 20
When Barbie Moved to the Village Susan Shapiro 22
How I Spent My Summer Vacation Caitlin O'Donnell 24
Beauty Fades Judy Sheindlin 26
Ace AF Michelle P. Carter 28
My Loving Sisters Jo-Ann Mapson 30
Sex Points Liza Donnelly 32
Lesson Plans 01-03: On Age Dropping, Botox, and Being an Asian-American Woman at Fifty Darien Hsu Gee 34
How to Remove a Lost Tampon Dawn Lundy Martin 36
Gambling for Tampons Lauren Saalmuller 38
Big Feet Rita Ciresi 40
Obituary Monique Heller 42
Love Language Kari Collins 44
The Hayfield: A Gardener's Tale Suzanne Staubach 46
A Day in the Life Jane Smiley 48
"This is a Green Pear" Kristina Reardon 51
The Blender Ali Oshinskie 53
Stranger Roommates Erica Buehler 55
My First Date … with a Girl Lisa Nic An Bhreithimh 57
Coming to Am-er-ic-a Niamh Emerson 60
Better with Age Jennifer Rizzo 62
Ringing on Ozark Nicole Hollander 65
Anti-Social Media Kristen Mongillo 67
The Podcast Diaries Laura Rossi 70
Who Has the Last Laugh? Ferne Pearlstein 73
Hope and The West Wing Susan Campbell 75
Fred the Aviator Katharine Capshaw 77
I No Longer Want to Bury My Ex; I've Buried the Hatchet Instead Roz Warren 79
Happily Regretful Jennifer Rawlings 82
Vanilla Maggie Mitchell 84
On Being a Contrarian Alison Umminger 87
Her Gifts Rebecca Krefting 89
Just Twirl Loretta Laroche 91
Real Doctor Dr. Mary Lupo 94
Weighing In Jennifer Sager 96
Falling in Love Is Fattening Mollie Kervick 98
No Belly Cynthia Luo 100
Flame of Love Carolyn Dever 102
Free Chance at Happiness Lisa Douglas 104
For Now Kerri Brown 107
The Prince Joyce Saltman 110
Fame Adjacent Lydia Snapper 112
More Than a Pretty Woman Pam Katz 114
Meetings and Greetings Fay Weldon 117
Personal Statement Anna Zarra Aldrich 119
What Does That Word Mean? Amanda Smallhorn 122
Manipulating Man Spreading Nicole Catarino 124
I've Been Sorting the Wrong Shit Mandy Smith-Brasher 126
Close Bonnie Jean Feldkamp 128
Push Comes to Shove Amy Hartl Sherman 131
I Married a Mathematician Joan Seliger Sidney 133
Young Senior Moments Leighann Lord 135
Five Year Renewable Eileen Scully 137
The Nearby Brenda Murphy 139
Girl School Rules Krishna Dolce 141
An Early Lesson in Unconscious Bias Juliet Rix 144
Be Prepared Ilene Beckerman 146
My Perpetual Fear of Water Jessie Lubka 148
Chaos Theory Laurie Cella 150
Footsies Jennifer Larue 152
Reasons Why I'm Giving Up Dating Online Emily Heiden 154
Waste Not Krisela Karaja 156
The Crafting of Doily Lamas Mary Kay Morrison 158
I Apologize for What I Said When I Was Hungry Kate Luongo 160
Outerwear I Have Loved Lavonne Leong 161
The Miserable Snapshot Theory of Life Gina Barreca 163
Contributors 166
Credits 192
About the Editor 193
