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Portfolio / Selected Clips

The Boston Globe Magazine
On Our Wedding Day, My Watch Stood Still

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My husband and I married when I was 53 and he was 61. We knew we wouldn’t get to have and to hold one another for the same “forever” my sister and brother-in-law had already enjoyed for 39 years of marriage.

The Santa Fe Writers Project Journal

I Never Want to Leave These People, This Place

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Los Angeles felt more like home than my suburban Maryland hometown. Every corner of the city on the edge of the Pacific was interconnected—dots on a map linking people and places that brought joy and grace into my life.

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Every day, my overly ambitious To-Do lists include “Welcome Joy, Good Health, and Ease.” I also put a fun sticker in the middle, often a Cat in the Hat, Snoopy, or a smiley face. I need these reminders so I don’t get bogged down by my penchant for overdoing things.

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Who would have thought that discussing a topic often avoided in polite conversation — death and mortality — would turn out to be life-affirming, freeing, peaceful, and even joyful? Attending a Death Cafe proved surprisingly uplifting.

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I held Joni Mitchell responsible for my status as a perennially single woman. But all the years of pining away to the soundtrack of Joni’s voice finally paid off.

AARP's The Ethel
How Separate Vacations Can Keep a Marriage Strong

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What’s one secret to our happy marriage? Separate vacations. Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband, and he loves me. But every few months, we each do a happy dance when heading off on a solo adventure where we don’t have to adapt to each other’s quirks. This pic is from one of my solo trips to NYC.

AARP's The Ethel
Dating tips for the over 50 crew.

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Before marrying, I went on nearly 100 dates spanning five years, I compiled a set of lessons learned that I share with single girlfriends over 50. While being lonely is hard, so is dating, and having a toolkit can help.

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When my husband, Tom, and I needed a break from the steady stream of bad news from most of our news sources, we decided to volunteer at our local animal shelter.

The Beacon
Author and Publisher Caroline Bock Champions Local Writers

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Bock's new novel, The Other Beautiful People, is being warmly received by a literary community she's spent years lifting up through her work as a publisher.

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Shondaland

Why I Searched for Love in Thrift Store Aisles.

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AARP's The Ethel
How These Dynamic Women Won the Ms. Senior America Pageant

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Speed Dating, Anyone? A story offering an alternative to dating apps, especially geared toward older adults.

Lunch Ticket
As I unpacked boxes of my father's artifacts during a pandemic housekeeping project, it prompted me to hold him accountable for his transgressions, and consider forgiveness.

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Hi Dad,
When you died, I figured there wasn’t any point in writing to you. But since the world broke down last year, everything has shifted, including how I want to communicate with you.

Hippocampus
How Writing in Community Rocked My Writing

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​Orange Coast Magazine
Why Turning 60 During the Pandemic Was No Biggie

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In this essay, I entertain the idea that the business of caring too much is merely clickbait I haven’t been able to resist. I wonder what would happen if I swapped in my over-developed fretting skills.

LA Weekly

Robert Johnson: Lawman of the Cloth

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Not many people get credit for both busting cabbies and saving souls. Robert Johnson does.

Huffington Post

Showing Some Love for Local Government

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Op-ed celebrating the bureaucratic heroes of local government.

​North Hollywood Patch
Yoga Studio Reinvigorates Former Dutton's Books Building

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Who says the fried chicken and fitness crowds can't happily coexist? Certainly not the people at InYoga Center in Valley Village.

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Candy Conery is a woman who has run her hands through Elvis’ hair. And John Wayne’s.

The Burbank Leader - 

LA Times Community News

High-risk family

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Someone overhearing stuntwoman Julie Michaels’ morning send-off of
her husband, stuntman Peewee Piemonte, might be thrown for a loop --
or a triple flip in a speeding car.

​The Burbank Leader - 
LA Times Community News
Keeping Things Warm

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The warm-up comedian for the TV show Frasier deftly navigates comedy, even soon after 9/11.

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