Articles written by Amanda Sowards

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About me - Amanda Sowards

I am a legal secretary at a movie studio, more than halfway toward getting my MFA in Creative Writing. I live in Southern California, I drive an exceedingly dull four-door sedan, I have one grown daughter and three very opinionated cats. By this time next

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Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: The photograph: 1 of 45

The Gibson Girl My grandfather said it at least once per vacation, whenever I visited them. It was usually in the early evening, after dinner, as we sat on the porch, after the dishes had been washed and put away, and he had been sent into exile to smoke his after-dinner pipe. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the tobacc...
Politics, News & Issues > People in the News Controversial radio host Don Imus: Should he be fired for his remarks?: 6 of 31

The die is cast. The deed is done. Now, the appropriate question is "Should Don Imus have been fired for his remarks?" To which I answer, "Yes." And "no." Don't be distressed if my seeming ambivalence leaves you confused. There truly is a method to my madness, I swear. Don Imus has been in radio for three decades now. When h...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: When dogs raise kittens: 1 of 4

DOGGY KITTY MOMMY Sigfried was part-Doberman, part-Weimareiner. His Doberman appearance usually conned people into thinking he was fierce, but in reality, he was a push-over - gentle, eager to please, obedient (for the most part). But he was a good-sized dog, too, and sometimes, when playing, lost track of his own strength a...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Parents: 22 of 44

One of the good parts of being a grown-up is getting to be your own parent. Feeling uncared for or ill-treated? Feeling unprotected and undefended? Feeling unappreciated and abandoned? You get to do that for yourself. You get to be the parent this time. You get to be your parent. You get to love you and cuddle you and make y...
Creative Writing > Novel Excerpts Novel excerpts: Parents: 7 of 14

THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN WESTERN My father was an aficionado of the American Western. He loved Zane Grey, the Lone Ranger, and tales of Wyatt Earp and the James Brothers. When he was ten years old, he had found a stray cat, which he instantly christened Billy the Kid with Two Smokin' Forty-fives. That's exactly what he call...
General Why did the chicken cross the road?: 6 of 12

The chicken, if one is bent on using such species-oriented terminology which categorizes and therefore limits individuals by the very nature of such labeling, crossed the road for the same reason we all tend to cross the road. It was on the universal quest for life's true meaning, coupled with an overriding desire to find ot...
Arts & Humanities > Writing Resources The importance of MFA creative writing programs for writers: 1 of 2

My father, the writer, was dead-set against the formal study of writing. He didn't believe that you needed to go to school for such a thing. It was hard to tell if he truly was so opposed, or if he was just trying to minimize the competition. "A writer doesn't study! A writer doesn't read about writing!" he'd say, categorica...
Politics, News & Issues > Party Politics & Ideology American liberalism and the Democratic party critiqued: 22 of 31

Jumbo shrimp. Military intelligence. Peace-keeping force. Democratic party. Oxymorons all. I can say that, because I'm a lifelong, die-hard registered Democrat. And I love my party. No, wait. I love the IDEA of my party. My party these days... not so much. Mostly because it isn't a party. The word "party" implies (in the pol...
Arts & Humanities > Writing at Helium Raising Helium to the next level: Helium's Writing Standards: 14 of 18

In the days when the written word was the only form of long-distance communication, everyone learned to write. Everybody wasn't necessarily Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but everyone learned at an early age to construct succinct, thoughtful prose, sufficient enough to convey their thoughts and feelings. Any time spent watching...
Creative Writing > Humor Humor: Applying make-up in the car: 4 of 5

CONFESSIONS OF AN AUTOMOTIVE BEAUTY TECHNICIAN I was driving to work this morning, as I do most mornings. Nothing special about today, really - except that it was a fabulous hair day, which has nothing to do with anything, really, except that I like to record those for posterity whenever possible. At the stoplight at Sepulve...