View Jennifer Swanton Brown's profile

A Sympathetic Second Soprano by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Turning Points

/ Stories

I really should, at the end of this Retrospect enterprise, tell the story of meeting John and Patti. So much good has come in my life as a direct result of sitting down, in about the fourth pew from the front of the church, about three seats in from the left-hand aisle, next to a…
Read More

Advice From Your Class Secretary by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Graduation Advice

/ Stories

My mother was the secretary for her ninth grade class. They graduated in 1953 in Newton, Massachusetts. By the time she and her friends had finished three years at Bigelow, the class had been together for three years. They knew each other well, having grown up together, many of them in the same elementary school…
Read More

Yellow Gingham by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

This prompt brought back powerful memories of a yellow gingham skirt my mother made in the 70s. She and my father took square-dancing lessons for a while, the outfits were wild. He had western style shirts with ruffles and mother-of-pearl buttons. She made skirts and wore them with ruffled blouses. She also made very puffy…
Read More

International Women’s Day by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Women's Lib

/ Stories

Today I’m thinking about all the women I have worked with. Some have been bosses, many many colleagues, and now I have two women who are my employees (heaven help them). I want to honor the women who taught me how to work: Cathy, the nurse manager at UCSF who hired me fresh out of…
Read More

A Second Baseman Woman by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Big Fan

/ Stories

The fact that I am woman of a certain age makes it easier to understand why I never played baseball as a child. I think I would have loved playing growing up, in a sand lot, the way my husband did, but that game is way way over. Our son played Little League for many years,…
Read More

Domestic Poetry by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Parenthood

/ Stories

For me, being a parent is almost indistinguishable from being a poet.
Read More

Babysitting with Coffee, Tea, or Me? by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Working

/ Stories

I loved reading about the very friendly skies while the little kids were asleep.
Read More

Shorts under Skirts by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Good Riddance

/ Stories

I almost broke my neck sometimes, standing on one leg, making sure none of the boys could see, sheesh.
Read More

Sitting by the Window by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Turning Points

/ Stories

After my first husband left me, I thought I would die of the pain. I was wrong.
Read More

A Journey to Maine by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Travel

/ Stories

Maine is hard to get to from just about anywhere. But I'll make that journey every time.
Read More

What Do We Have in Common? by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Siblings

/ Stories

My sister and I might not have a relationship you can write a great story about, but I bet we'd both read that book!
Read More

A Golden Friend with the Perfect GPA by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Graduation

/ Stories

Written in response to No Valediction
I remember the fact that I wasn't chosen to give a speech at my own graduation through the lens of my mother's indignation.
Read More

Voting for Reagan, Voting for Bernie by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

The point of all this sad history is to reflect on what happened this weekend, when my 20-year old son asked me to help him with his ballot, and I said "sure."
Read More

Fire at Huddart Park by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Vacations

/ Stories

Camping was fun when I was a kid. Fire was exciting and extinguished too soon.
Read More

Easter & Dressing Up for Church by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By Faith

/ Stories

Faith takes the form of Easter hats, nursing uniforms, Bach and carrot soup.
Read More

John and Stella by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

A story about a boy, his grandmother, and a boat.
Read More

Drawing First Grade by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

My mom loves to tell a certain set of stories about me over and over. This is one of them: on my first day of first grade I came home from school and drew a diagram of the classroom. My mother already knew I was the smartest kid in California, but this was honest to…
Read More

The School Bus by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

I grew up in a three-story apartment building in Palo Alto, California – a rectangular concrete building that still stands at the corner of Grant Avenue and Ash Street. Today, that part of town is crammed full of chic restaurants and expensive condos, but in the 1960s and 70s it was just a little neighborhood, tucked into a…
Read More

Estee Lauder by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

Grammy Brown taught me how to file my fingernails with an emery board. She made peach pie. She always smelled just a tiny bit sweet, just a tiny bit cinnamony, just a tiny bit powdery. If soft had a smell, it was Estee Lauder.
Read More

Voices from Maine by
10
(21 Stories)

/ Stories

Sensory images congealing into a poem about my Grandmother's Maine
Read More

Liver & Onions by
10
(21 Stories)

Prompted By What We Ate

/ Stories

My father appreciated every meal my mother prepared for him as if it were the best meal he'd ever eaten.
Read More