We were given a flicker of time in which an entire other life might be carried out, birth to death, as an exercise in paying attention, ....

November 10, 2008 11:58 AM

Some strange and strangely compelling short-short stories (by a Mefite): Sometimes the sick got well, and sometimes they didn't. It was commonplace for my grandmother to inherit an entire estate, based on the words "All Left to Persis" scrawled across the back of an envelope.
posted by orthogonality (22 comments total)

Some nice stuff. I just skimmed it. Seems like a nice person to boot.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:18 PM on November 10, 2008

These are amazing stories...
posted by schyler523 at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2008

That first story was lovely. Thanks ortho, I look forward to reading more.
posted by maryh at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2008

Ok, my world comes full circle. My girlfriend showed me this person's Etsy store. It deserves a link as well. Post appears to be a double though (but from 2005 and that link is broken).
posted by cjorgensen at 12:26 PM on November 10, 2008

Let's hear from the author herself!
posted by smackwich at 12:28 PM on November 10, 2008

I've read this before -- where? Was it posted to Making Light, at some point?

Good good stuff, of course -- just hauntingly familiar...
posted by jrochest at 12:30 PM on November 10, 2008

Brilliant story! What wonderful writing. Couldn't get enough, so satisfying. Good to go from one story to the next and the next. What a treat.

Infinitely more uplifting than this recent one of a contractor finding cash in a wall.

I loved reading it with the visual companionship of spidercamps charming creations on Etsy.

Bunny for Obama. Hope. *want

But the Oh Shit one is cool too. oh wait, the omg one rocks!

Thanks for this post orthogonality.
posted by nickyskye at 12:37 PM on November 10, 2008

Heh, the pipe links tell you that these were at least partially formatted for everything2; e.g. How did I get here, Sarah?

I briefly met JP 6 years ago, and she's a wonderful wonderful human.
posted by knile at 12:39 PM on November 10, 2008

These stories are all fantastic, all in different ways. I particularly liked "Do you remember how small your body was when you were five?"
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:46 PM on November 10, 2008

Oh, and knile: thanks for explaining the [thing with the brackets|weirdness.]
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:47 PM on November 10, 2008

Holy crap, Jessica Pierce. She was an old-school Everything2 editor back in the day. She's pretty neat. There's more of her writing on E2.
posted by signalnine at 2:16 PM on November 10, 2008

God, these stories are beautiful. Thanks for sending them my way, orthogonality.
posted by Sfving at 2:48 PM on November 10, 2008

These are wonderful. Thank you.
posted by rtha at 4:16 PM on November 10, 2008

I really liked the first one, but was the second one supposed to have so many brackets? They were making me dizzy.
posted by fermezporte at 4:47 PM on November 10, 2008

jrochest - Making Light would seem to triangulate, because I've read the first one, too. And I don't know where or when. But I do hang out at ML.

This is good stuff. Great for my politics hangover.
posted by Michael Roberts at 5:18 PM on November 10, 2008

Awesome.
posted by joannemerriam at 6:02 PM on November 10, 2008

Wow, I thought that name was familiar
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:09 PM on November 10, 2008

by a Mefite

Are we supposed to guess?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:52 AM on November 11, 2008

The MeFite author of these great stories is jessicapierce.
posted by nickyskye at 5:46 AM on November 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you for posting this.
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:59 PM on November 11, 2008

This post has been sitting in an open tab in my browser for days while I try to accomplish other things, but I am so very glad I came back to it. What wonderful stories. They left me feeling more vulnerable, and yet stronger. More human. Thanks.
posted by vytae at 2:16 PM on November 13, 2008

That was hauntingly gorgeous. The second story definitely gave me this tingly feeling. In a good way.
posted by Phire at 12:14 PM on November 14, 2008