About ten years ago, when I was working on “Scratching for Something,” I was fascinated with the back page classified ad section of The New York Press. At that time, the back page classifieds hosted all kinds of human appeal. Guileless personal ads, physics, ads thanking St. Jude, pornography and prostitution, cures for various physical [...]
The Birds by Marie Hines, 2003
Marie Hines combines a modern fable with a traditional Art Historical theme to create this provocative take on the annunciation. Hines’ composition uses familiar tropes: flowers, intense color, a winged messenger, and a pregnant Madonna. But Hines updates this classic theme by combining the ages-old story with a modern fable [...]
I was chatting with a man in the obstetrician’s waiting room when suddenly I realized that he was pregnant too. “I’m due in September,” he said, smiling proudly and rubbing his belly.
I should have been polite. Should have just said congratulations and left it at that, but instead I blurted, “But, you’re a man. [...]
Bones were discovered in my crawlspace, and police arrived to investigate, sifting the dirt for clues. When they learned that the remains were centuries old, they closed the case, and archeologists were brought in. “She was a woman about your size,” they told me, “probably one of the early settlers in the region.” The entire [...]