The seventh graders and I were setting up for a bingo fundraiser. During class I took them out in the school van. First, we went around town collecting food donations from families. Then we took the donations to the bingo hall, which was very close to the school. While we were there, we stayed to […]
Author: Evelyn J. Willburn
Wisteria (for Aunt Helen)
The wisteria is climbing the kitchen door; I pull it down, but it keeps looking for a new angle. It was such a long time ago that Laura and I Painted the trellis for that vine–it was just Beginning to grow, and the flowers smelled so sweet. Summer lasted forever in those days, and I […]
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If you want, you can get an email notifying you of each new post. Just scroll down to the comment box, and click as if to write a comment. An option to get emails will appear, just click the box and you are good to go! At least I think so. I learn a little […]
Ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties
Who among us, even the rankest of existentialists, does not occasionally ponder the supernatural? While I have had plenty of experiences that seemed ghostly, most have had an explanation that stands up to daylight scrutiny. Scene: I have just finished watching some TV show about Dracula. I am eight years old and scared to go […]
In which I share pictures of a dear friend
A few months after I bought this car that I keep rattling on about, I walked into the Alaska Gifts store in Craig and spotted a perfectly color-coded mascot: Notice that in certain light she creates a disco-ball effect: She rides with me everywhere I go, and I like to think she has a sense […]
In the days of sideways rain
Sixty-something, partly cloudy, with a light breeze. While this phrase could arguably be used to describe me, this time it is, in fact, a description of recent weather here in Craig, on the outskirts of the Southeast Alaskan rainforest. I am fond of saying that there are two kinds of weather in Craig: straight-down rain […]
Lights out
How do you knock a person unconscious? Movies make it look so easy and convenient. I’ve actually lost consciousness twice that I can remember. One time, I was about twelve and my friends and I were playing a stupid and dangerous game. We called it Blackout. What you did was you breathed hard and fast […]
Armed and maybe dangerous
Alaska has a regulation that says a student who brings a gun to school must be suspended for a minimum of one year. While I was principal in Kake, Alaska ,there was at least one school board member who had missed that memo. I know this because one day he drove up to the elementary […]
In which Gretel gets a makeover
One Christmas my sisters and I got Sound of Music dolls. As the youngest, I got Gretel. When Gretel came out of the box, her hair was braided and coiled around her ears (think Princess Leia). My first order of business was to take her hair down to brush it—and that was the end of […]