"Maria Soria may be coming back to work," Marlen had said. I opened my eyes to that sentence floating in my head. It was a fact now. Maria Soria was…

The spring semester was over in May, and I didn't have to worry about school again until the end of August. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but…

My birthday was looming on the horizon. It was only two weeks away. That could have been the most important thing in my life, since you only turn twenty-three once,…

My life has always been an exercise in anticipation. I am continually waiting for something decisive to happen, something that would either make my life more comfortable or a bit…

I walked out of Staples, already wearing my blue McD’s shirt, my hair neatly packed under my black hat. The clear, blue sky and warm afternoon smelled like a triumph.…

I spent March 2008 writing down and studying everything on the booklet, hammering all the theory in my head, and then, like in any other field, I mixed it up…