For my whole life, the story our family told about our great uncle’s death was that it was from a car crash. He was 21, a UC Berkeley engineering student at the time. When we’d go to great-grandma’s house, his room was untouched from the year he died. His textbook was still…
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I never thought it would get to this point, but here we are. You’ve gone full MAGA and—dare I say—borderline Nazi. The signs were there. When you were discharged from the Marines, you had some white supremacist symbols branded into your skin. But then you went to therapy, learned how to keep…
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When my hubby offered to have you, his older brother, stay at our place for the summer, I tried to ignore the fact that you expected it without even bothering to ask. Like, you assumed we’d have to say yes because we’re family. Whatever. But when we told you how much utilities…
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I arrived at the wedding reception battling nausea from a bout of food poisoning. So I tried to find my footing by leaning against the wall on the patio, nursing a water while chatting with a couple of guests. That’s when you locked eyes with me and barreled through a sea of…
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I saw you—or rather I saw your white Toyota sedan out in the left lane on Lytton in Palo Alto. And as I telephoned my friend with the car-share app (sorry, I don’t happen to have a spare $200 to buy a smart phone), who relayed you had already charged him for…
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I’m a down-on-her-luck type who never wins anything—raffles, free samples, the lottery, you name it—so standing next in line behind someone who pays it forward took me by surprise. It was at the chain coffee shop on the corner of McKee Road and Capitol Avenue in San Jose. You, wearing a baseball…
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I finally started going to the gym this year. Nothing serious; just trying to do an hour’s worth of exercise a few days a week. I’m only down to 170 pounds from 180, but hey—small steps. I’m also frugal and drive a 20-year-old truck with a CD player, because I figure at…
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My co-workers are boring, insipid people and I’d rather slap myself in the face repeatedly than spend more than the contractually obligated eight hours with them. So, to me, work parties are salt in an already painfully infected wound. The only thing I look forward to at these things are the desserts,…
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After five hours volunteering at the San Jose Jazz Summer Festival on Saturday, I thought I’d rest my feet and go listen to the last song of Booker T. To make sure that was OK, I asked the gatekeepers for permission to enter the VIP section by the main stage and wound…
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There are certain people who think that stand-up comedy is a town hall or an open invitation for discussion; you’re one of those people. I saw you interrupt the show (at a particular avian-themed comedy club) because you felt that the joke the comedian was making was an inaccurate depiction of reality.…
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