I didn’t want to face all that death. For most of my life, I’d been dreadfully frightened of ghosts, hauntings, or horror movies. Call it a 6th sense or an active imagination, but I was known to get spooked by antique portraits, dark basements, and creaky floorboards. This visit felt like eerie immersion therapy. But …
Month: October 2019
Balzac: Worth the Trouble
If I had known Balzac was going to cause me this much trouble, I would not have bothered. Maybe this was payback for all the crude jokes I had made at his name’s expense. After a 45 minute metro ride to the sleepy 16th arrondissement in a sweltering 108 degree heat with a screaming sore …
Lost Leading a Hemingway Tour
Sweat poured down my brow and my back in self-conscious trickles. Wide eyes glared straight at the reddening rosacea on my cheeks. My brain felt foggy, my heart leaped into my throat, and my stomach flipped. Was that pungent pit odor mine? Could they hear the crack in my voice? The fifteen students and …
Julie Pesano 