A catalog of the stuff in my apartment
The thing that honey tastes best on is a Martha Harp dinner roll—a fluffy, buttery delicacy sold in the bakery section of Harps grocery stores, a regional chain based in my hometown of Springdale, Arkansas. Martha was the wife of the onetime owner. They’ve both gone to that shopping cart corral in the sky by […]
I brought a sweater to a wedding I attended in El Salvador last year. I didn’t plan to wear the thing at the ceremony or reception, of course, but to one of the auxiliary events—a dinner on a beach. I figured the sweater would be appropriate since it’s made of relatively porous material and has […]
Over the last decade, a bunch of states, including three of the four where I have been a resident—my home state of Arkansas as well as Illinois and Massachusetts—have enacted laws requiring public schools to teach students cursive. (The fourth Zac-affiliated state is New York, which has no such requirement.) In the case of Arkansas, […]
The zip code in my hometown of Springdale, Arkansas, is 72764. Not long ago, one of my sisters gave me a T-shirt with those numbers spelled out on the front. I assume she was trying to help prevent me from forgetting where I came from. When you move away from somewhere, forgetting where you came […]
My preferred pizza toppings are onions, mushrooms, and green peppers. Before eating a slice, I’ll usually sprinkle it with grated Parmesan and crushed red pepper. That has been my M.O., pizzawise, for some time now, though my tastes have evolved over the years. When I was a child, I liked Pizza Hut’s saltine-esque thin-crust slices […]
For a while, my husband and I had a subscription to one of those meal-kit services that send you at regular intervals a box containing ingredients and a recipe. The ingredients always seemed to be eggplants and the recipes were clearly written by people who are not familiar with the tiny kitchens in New York […]
There are those who seem to have boundless confidence in the greatness of their home states. Such people usually come from Texas or California. The unhesitating state pride strikes me as unearned in one of those cases, but I’m too polite to get specific. I come from Arkansas, which inspires more complicated feelings, especially in […]
Indirect Objects 