Hello USR members and guests, It’s great to touch bases with you again, and we hope you’ve enjoyed our recent postings. It’s been a fairly busy week. McKenzie Bartels‘ “She Fixed Things” shows how important a young cat can be in a family’s life. Magnolia Cook’s “Becoming a Better Person” explains that …
Gillian found out she was adopted at 12 years old. The moment her adoptive parents, Maggie and Steve Graham, told her, she felt as if she was something special. Now she had a unique name and status, even though she didn’t understand exactly what “adopted” meant. Still, this brief charge of …
Hello USR members and guests, We’ve had a great week here at US Represented, and we hope you have, too. In Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey, Book 11, Tiresias predicts Odysseus’s fate. Mark Eberhardt’s “Hope You’re Happy, Too” describes an eventful morning that turns out differently than one might expect. Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods …
Dennis woke up lying face-first in a field just after dawn. His car sat twenty feet away with the driver’s door open, engine running, and headlights on. An empty bottle of Jack Daniels stood upright on the ground directly between him and the car, and the Talking Heads’ “Once in …
Hello USR members and guests, Our site has had another great week, and we appreciate you keeping us company. In Emily Badovinac’s “One Last Thing,” after the violent death of his sister Cassie, Logan’s grief turns to purpose when she asks him for a last favor. Mark Eberhardt’s “Thought” reminds …
I think it’s time to have a serious talk about our relationship. It’s been a while, and hearing me out might do us both some good. After all, I’ve been around for as long as you can remember. I’m a part of you whether you want to admit it or …
Hello USR readers, We hope you’re enjoying life. We’ve had fun shaping this past week’s offerings. For instance, in one entry, Leonardo da Vinci explains why stupidity and superstition are bad things. In Tim Gleason’s “One Morning in the Lunch Line,” a young man stubbornly refuses to accept anything less than his …
He pulled his rifle and rucksack from the trunk of his Buick, then stepped out of the abandoned cattle shed and into the sunlight. To the south, a rusty barbed-wire fence separated ranch land from public domain. He scanned the hills beyond the fence. A local rancher had told him …
Fed up with his job as an assistant manager at the local Dinostop service station, Sean stared through the window at the big purple dinosaur statue in the yard next to the gas pumps and thought about how his boss was skimming money from the safe every morning and doctoring …
Hello USR members and guests, We hope life is treating you well. The diversity of our weekly offerings was in keeping with our mission to support free speech and creative expression. Mark Eberhardt’s “Nothing to Forget” proves that it’s never too late to become a better person. In “The Real ER,” Amber …
The sunset shrouded the bay in a mantle of gold. Ben scanned the horizon from his second-floor balcony and then leaned forward in his chair to gain a clearer view of his front yard. The jacaranda trees were in full bloom, their lush petals serving as a purple canopy for …
Hello everyone, It’s nice to speak with you again. Our writers have contributed some strong texts to this week’s collection. In “Community Gardening: Getting Our Hands Dirty,” Jennifer Lucero points out that community gardens “revitalize our prosperity, health, and happiness by maintaining whole food supplies for everyone, which means everyone …
You have asked me what the lobster weaves between its golden claws, and I respond to you: The sea knows. You say to me, “What is the ascidia waiting for in its transparent bell? What is it waiting for?” I say to you, it waits as you do for time. You …
Ginger stood in line at the grocery store waiting for Jeremy Kendall to complete his purchase. Suddenly, Jeremy said to the cashier, “Dang it. Forgot toothpaste. Be right back.” He slipped past Ginger and the other customers and ran off for a tube of toothpaste. Ginger told the cashier, “Just …
Hi USR members and guests, This week’s offerings focus a bit on health and environmental issues although not entirely. Janelle Watson’s “San Francisco Must Stop Abusing Its Marine Mammals” makes a strong case for greater protection of aquatic animals. Mark Eberhardt’s “Unintended Consequences” describes what happens when a homeless Veteran finds a pistol in …
The third dumpster Nate visited that day was halfway down a narrow alley, and he liked his chances of finding something since it sat next to the back door of a pizza parlor. He pushed open the metal lid, stroked his thick beard, and began digging. The first thing he …