RACISM
Bigotry in the Sky
I’d just boarded my plane from Philadelphia to California. When you travel alone, sitting on a plane always is a lottery. Would the person sitting next to me be pleasant and friendly? An obnoxious drunk? A motormouth? …
CONFLICT ON THE TRAIL
No! The Problem is Clueless Pedestrians!
It started with this post on my online neighborhood bulletin board:
ATTENTION CYCLISTS! The speed limit on the trail is 7 MPH. I have ridden the path on my bike with a speedometer app and know what 7MPH is like. Y’all ain’t doing it.
Other trail users quickly agreed:
It’s…
MEDIUM MYSTERIES
What’s Happening?? And Why?
I’ve been on Medium since February 2019, and while my daily reads sometimes fluctuate, they tend to hold steady at around 200 a day.
So imagine my surprise when I checked my stats this morning and saw that I received 3,503 reads yesterday!
This experience is known on the platform…
TRAVEL
A Travelling Swimmer Tells All
I’m a swimmer and I visit San Francisco’s East Bay Area often, which means that I’ve enjoyed — or failed to enjoy — a lot of the area’s hotel pools. When selecting a hotel, the swimming pool is always a crucial consideration for me. Is it big? Clean? Suitable for…
AGING
Just Don’t Call Me “Pappy.”
Bat Masterson! Fred Astaire! Both were debonair dudes with canes I remember fondly from my (black and white) TV-watching youth. Fred’s movies were often featured on those ubiquitous “Classic Movie of the Day” shows. “Bat Masterson” was a prime time hit from 1958–1961.
Bat and Fred were sophisticated. Sexy. Watching…
FICTION
A Short Story
Jane sits on the floor in the children’s section, a stack of paperbacks on the floor beside her. Ten years old, in jeans and a striped T shirt, Jane’s cropped brown hair and bangs frame a face that is clever rather than pretty. …
AGING SWEETLY
How Do I Know? I’m Eating Grandma Candy!
I’m turning into my grandmother. How do I know? I’ve developed a taste for individually wrapped hard candy, a treat I always associated with her and never cared for myself. Until now.
I always preferred chocolate. Chocolate bars as a kid, and then treats like malted milk balls and raisin…
SILLY WRITING CONTESTS
What Should Medium Have Spent $60,000 on Instead of That Story?
Recently, in its ceaseless effort to improve itself as a writing platform, Medium held a writing contest. I didn’t enter this contest. Instead I made fun of it. Because I’m a humorist and that’s what I do.
But lots of other Medium writers entered the contest. Including many of my…
FICTION
A Short Story
“Look at this inkblot,” the Psych says to Worker 168. “What do you see?”
Worker 168, a young woman wearing overalls, peers at the inkblot. “I see a beautiful summer day,” she says. “A young woman, wearing a flowing dress, sits beside a stream. She is writing a poem. …
MEDIUM SCHMEDIUM
Well why not?
It used to be that any Medium writer who published their stuff behind the paywall got paid.
They wouldn’t get paid much. But if they had readers? Money would result.
Medium recently changed the rules. Now you can’t get paid unless you have 100 followers.
Why 100?
Why not 107?
…
Roz Warren
Writing Coach/Medium Sherpa Roz Warren(https://muckrack.com/roz-warren) (roSwarren@gmail.com) writes for everyone from the New York Times to the Funny Times.
