For a brief moment in my life I owned two barbecue grills. The older one, the one I bought, I’ll call “Maverick.” The younger one, the one I found on the side of the road one morning with a “Free” sign taped to her side, I’ll call “Sassy.” Sassy, from the moment she got plugged […]

When I first saw that the Press Herald was asking for submissions on the topic of “Overheard” for their Meetinghouse feature in December, I immediately thought, “Party line.” I spent my teenage years with a party line. I would talk to my girlfriends for hours, sitting under the desk in the dining room or stretching […]

In our youth, we take our hearing for granted. High pitch, low pitch, in between pitch … all comes in loud and clear. Then life happens and slowly, gradually, for some of us the clearness is replaced by a lot more fuzziness. It occurs so quietly, like a thief in the night. Very annoying. A […]

1957. I was 11, helping my sixth-grade teacher host an open house to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary. The house was crowded with many upstanding people from our small-town area of Vermont. I wore a blue print dress with a gathered skirt that my mother had sewn and felt shy but very grown up as […]

While sitting with friends for coffee, I overheard a friend comment on rereading favorite books. When I reread, I sometimes feel I’m listening in on a conversation that’s really not mine to follow, but I don’t get up to leave, I’ve heard too much already to tear myself away. My rereading is addicting – am […]

My Aunt Mary was quite deaf from a young age. We loved the story she told of what happened early in her teaching career. A boy raised his hand and asked, “Is it all right if I go over to John and hit him on the head?” My aunt’s response, “Yes, if you do it […]

South Jersey, where I grew up, is marked by waterways, within and all around. Waterways and stories of freedom. All kinds of sounds are carried over the flat terrain.  Rumors, signals, warnings, pointers – they kept listeners alert. Sounds were music to ears that were trained in hearing – and in overhearing. Keen listening was […]

The words I overheard that moment sent me under my big, black bed where I often went to be alone, to figure things out, to hide. I didn’t know exactly what the repercussions of the words were, but I knew that they were about what my family was going through. I couldn’t even put it […]