Author Archives: joannejagoda

In their puffy parkas, knit hats,Babies bundled in strollers, bewildered toddlers in tow.Just ordinary people like you and me,Parents and old folk, neighbors and strangers,Teachers and plumbers, students and programmers.Gathered at train stations, huddled in subways, piling on buses,Clutching hastily-packed bags and wheelie suitcases, cellphones in hand.Did they think to grab a few family photos?DidContinue reading “Just Ordinary People”

I would have called you Oma

I pass by them on my way down the hill to Safeway, or Peet’s names inscribed in simple block letters draped on stunted trees in the median or scrawled on cardboard “ grave” markers in a makeshift cemetery on a small rise excised by the cruel scalpel of racial injustice their hollow voices cry outContinue reading “Cardboard Cemetery”