by Samantha Wallen | Mar 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
In the days before my foreclosure process began, I sat at my desk before a pile of unpaid bills. I shuffled statements from one pile to another trying to make decisions about which ones to pay. An ache in my belly crawled up into my heart, traveled through my veins...
by Samantha Wallen | Mar 25, 2014 | Uncategorized
I remember a morning just before my foreclosure process began. I was rushing to make my bed while simultaneously planning out what to put in my daughters’ lunch boxes. My youngest daughter, who was seven at the time, came in and said, “Oh mom, can I draw you a picture...
by Samantha Wallen | Feb 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
When you speak into a silent room, or write on a blank page, you give voice. Giving voice is a gesture of belonging. It says, “I am here, I have something to say, I am part of this.” It seems so simple. Yet it can be excruciatingly difficult, especially if you are...
by Samantha Wallen | Dec 9, 2013 | Uncategorized
I caved. After years of successfully not buying anything from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday as a protest against excess consumption and consumerism, I went shopping on Black Friday. For the last several years I’ve held my ground and kept Thanksgiving it’s own...
by Samantha Wallen | Nov 26, 2013 | Uncategorized
I found my way back home through an orange soapstone heart. I bought it for my daughter at the De Young Art Museum gift shop in Golden Gate Park when she was still heavy into her orange period. I noticed it on her desk last night as I lay in her loft bed with my face...
