Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud
I write stuff down. writer • humorist • activist
At a writing workshop once, the teacher – who I thought knew and liked me – singled me and said, after I read my contribution aloud: “I don’t know what that is. On the page you’ve got nothing, but maybe if you read it out loud, or whatever it is you do, it’ll be something.” Why thanks. People who read me say I have a distinctive voice, and the best
What a summer. To be completely honest, the entire year has been a bit of a shit show: when a dead dog and dead aunt are the absolute highlights – and they were, make no mistake about it, both revealing the most beautiful and wondrous things about us humans just when we need it so – it’s not a bad idea to look forward to a change of seasons. Last
1-2-3: There was a gal … maybe you know her. About this tall? Cute, blonde hair, blue eyes – trim, very trim – you know who I’m talking about? From Pawling. Come on, her mother — a member of Quaker Hill Country Club, could do a split. I know you know her. Ate like a rabbit –sugar, no fat, no butter. Not ever. She always asked ridiculous, redundant questions –
Apparently I can’t keep them alive, but I can help them die, with dignity and humor and grace and privacy — or at least try. After helping my Aunt maneuver the ass-suck which is pancreatic cancer, we ended up in the same place as her brother, my dad. What a genetic shitshow. And with the news of the most recent shootings* (as of this writing, Dayton & El Paso, subject
Every once in a while Facebook serves up a writing opportunity too good to pass up. I’m not talking about the teeth-whitening strips or cool-sculpting or the never-ending bra inventory promising to uplift more than my sagging spirits. Actually, I am talking about just that, because an assignment for an essay on why people shouldn’t tell women of a certain age what they can and cannot wear – landed in
I’ve spent the month bedside with my dying aunt because nothing says summer vacation like fighting hospital staff for more meds while your incredible shrinking aunt disappears into bed sheets writhing in pain. There’s gotta be a better way. When alone in the room, my aunt tells me how she wants me to kill her if I can’t get her more meds; use a pillow, whatever I can think of
My dad was a math and computer science professor at a local community college in Poughkeepsie, New York. A smart guy. Very smart. Unassumingly smart. The guy at Trivia Pursuit who answered correctly despite asleep and snoring across the room. Listening to a radio caller blowing raspberries with their lips and groaning over the phone over the radio, my dad would be like, yep: catalytic converter, outsmarting Click & Clack
Nobody else is flinching. They’re all breathing. In and out. In. And. Out. Eyes gently shut, all the women are centered on their mats, breathing, hands at heart center, I can’t help but think like a praying mantis. Who kill their partner after sex. via GIPHY But these women don’t seem violent at all, they’re all super chill. I know, because my eyes are wide open and I’m scanning the
An irreverent storyteller with a foul mouth and big heart, Kathryn Mayer (also known by Kathy and Kate), is a writer, humorist, and activist writing out loud with humor and grace about the little moments of life with big ripples, including parenting, social issues, midlife, and, sigh, gun violence prevention. Sometimes a big deal, sometimes notMayer is national award-winning columnist, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and her essays have been recognized as Voice of the Year from SheKnows/BlogHer, named Best … Read More Here...
kate[at]kathrynmayer[dot]com
xo Kate