September of 2001 was cause for celebration. The arbequina olive trees had arrived at their new home in Central Texas. Although, he’s a saint best known for granting fertility to women, a quick prayer was offered to St. Gerard to help the trees grow and bear fruit. Now, twenty years later the strong branches that once provided cool shade from the blistering Texas sun, have become denuded, charred and twisted. The skinny arms of the once bountiful trees stick up in the air as if they’re gripped by rigor mortis.
Read moreThe Ex-Lacks Lady
It was a dreary February in 1978. Unemployed, living in Austin, Texas, and seven months pregnant, I wasn’t barefoot, but the stacked-wedgies on my feet were pinching my toes something terrible. Searching for gainful employment, I pounded the pavement knocking on one door after another and soon found out that nobody in the advertising business wanted on-camera talent who was so big she, “Mooooed.” Someone even joked that a woman in my advanced inflated condition might get stuck between a washer and dryer, or God forbid drop her load while on camera.
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