As a writer of full-length personal essays and creative nonfiction, I have begun to explore writing micro-essays—essays complete in only 50-100 words. I also practice typographical photography, recording words as they appear in the landscape. These can be words on legal signage, the defacement of signs, graffiti, street art, or it can be a single random word that someone placed in an unusual location for unknown reasons.
With this exhibit, I blend my micro-essayist practice with my typographical photography. I aim to capture moments and fragments of a larger story, places where we find meaning and fulfilment, joy and expectation, but also where we experience sadness and fear, or indulge in recollection or hilarity.
In both writing and photography, I want to reveal the fragments of life that slip through the cracks, to capture them before they disappear forever. With both camera and pen, I am always looking for moments and images considered too mundane or frivolous to record. I enjoy how those moments reveal the essence of life by evoking the fragility and the strength that we all carry within us.
This exhibit is on display in the Art and Soul Gallery at First Mennonite Church, Reedley during the month of August 2025.
Love I
There were no roses, no jewelry, no dinners out. There was, however, this: a yo-yo that lit up in the dark, bought from a street vendor near Embarcadero BART. He breathed an apology, it’s not exactly romantic. Instinctively, I understood then, what forty years has confirmed for me now.
First published in 50 Give or Take
He worried about not having enough. He fretted over having too much. With one he could lose his home; with the other, he would lose his soul. In this lifelong struggle betwixt heart and mind, his heart won. He never passes an outstretched hand without handing them his largest bill.
He knows exactly what his tattoos reveal. He sees how people avoid him in the store aisles. The monochromatic boldness and single-dot work scream prison art. He just wants to not frighten others. So, he got a small rescue dog saying, “Who can fear a man with a poodle in his arms?”
First published in 50 Give or Take
A pastor and an anti-war activist for his lifetime, he lifted up the beauty of lives in need of peace. His son, a bartender, was his strongest supporter. They often joked that they did the same work: one with matters of the Spirit, the other with matters of the Spirits.
First published in 50 Give or Take
Eyes barely open, his hair spiked like Einstein, he stumbles into the kitchen at 6:30 Sunday morning, this night owl who loves his sleep.
“Do you want coffee?” he mumbles.
I do.
He measures, pours, pushes the blue start button, then wanders back to bed for several more hours of sleep.
Will you promise me something?
What’s that?
When I die, if you must throw a memorial service, don’t give me a glowing eulogy.
You want me to say how annoying you were?
Yes. List my worst traits.
Ok. That shouldn’t be too difficult. But people will be appalled.
Yeah, so?
In her recurring childhood nightmare, she jumped over houses, tractors, and creeks. On a continually-upward trajectory, fearful of gravity kicking in, she always awoke before falling.
When others scolded, “Get your head out of the clouds,” her mother told her, “The clouds, my child, are where you should be.”
How can we make things right? I ask.
By not giving up. By taking breaks.
What do you mean? I cry. They are disappearing people!
Bake a peach cobbler. Share it with your friends. Laugh!
How dare we laugh while Rome burns! I scream.
Perhaps, she sighs, so we live to fight another day.
Are you saved, sir?
From what?
Not from … for.
Then for what?
Heaven, sir.
Have you sold your possessions and given the proceeds to the poor? Do you care for the widows, orphans, and foreigners?
What?
That’s what Jesus tells us to do.
Don’t change the subject.
I’m not.
Remember those childhood ditties we sang?
Nope.
Yeah, you know the ones. Those jump rope songs, slapsies poetry, silly rhymes that made us laugh until we peed in our pants?
Sorry, I don’t remember.
My favorite was this:
Little birdie in the sky
Drop some whitewash in my eye.
Me no care, me no cry.
Me just glad that cows can’t fly!
Don’t tell me you still find it funny!?!
She always answered her children’s questions with the utmost gravitas. Why do leaves change colors? or What is God? She loved their curiosity and looked for ways to stimulate it further.
When reading the story of the Good Samaritan to them, she asked them to answer the question: Who do you think our neighbor is? They replied, The old woman next door; Our cousins up the road.
She said, Because the earth is a sphere, this patch of land that I stand on reaches down to its core. The same holds true for everyone. We all meet at the Center.
Checklist
- Change water to wine
- Feed a crowd with a pittance ✓
- Tell a few parables ✓
- Wash someone’s feet ✓
- Chase out the money lenders
- Drive demons into pigs
- Reanimate a corpse
- Diss a hypocrite – include yourself ✓
- Calm the storm ✓
- Walk on water (maybe take a life vest)
- Ridicule religious rulers ✓
- Be an ally ✓
Those of us who love stories about extraterrestrial life will blithely parrot ET phone home, or Thanks for all the fish, or Live long and prosper. Yet we fear them and disbelieve them when they say, We come in peace. We assign nefarious purposes to their visits.
We say: They’re all criminals and try to send them home.
The kids complained that they wanted a hotel with a pool and a McDonalds. “Is there at least a go-cart track nearby?” They whined.
“We can get fast food anywhere!” I tell them. “And a Marriott wouldn’t have a go-cart track for you. All I want is a sandwich and clean sheets. Do you need more than that?”
“French fries,” they chorus. “Double order, please.”
(A found essay)
She writes: I pray you are watching for the TRUTH. Tonight a plane flew over our farm and drew an infinity sign!
She worries: There is evidence the coro-na virus disease is connected to radiofrequency radiation. TRUTH is finally dripping out.
She rages: Google Translate says cor-ona virus means heart attack virus in Latin. TRUTH! And you can be vaccinated without knowing.
She rejoices: TRUTH will set you FREE!! Gesara: 1000 years of peace!
She rhapsodizes: Revelation makes more sense every day. SPOILER ALERT: God Wins !!