From the Caregiver's HAErt — Danita LaShelle Jones

“Did someone lock the door?” It was a common question we’d hear whenever we got into the car. My father was meticulous about ensuring that the front door of our home was always locked. Although we lived in a great neighborhood, our house sat on a large corner, providing ample…

“I called to ask your scholarship provider,” my dad said over the phone. “They think you’re a freshman.” The problem? I was a second-semester sophomore. At the beginning of my fourth semester of undergrad studies, my father discovered that one of my scholarships hadn’t been applied to my account. The…

Whether I was wrestling with theorems in unified geometry, had to remember names of capitals in geography, or was forced to memorize elements on the periodic table in science, I was never a fan of taking tests. Aside from the surprise of pop quizzes, I usually knew when a test…

“I’m sorry, you can what?” the person asked me. The question made me pause. At a dinner years ago, I found myself conversing with someone who’d seen a few of my plays. Admittedly, I was drawn to the conversation because, as a playwright, I rarely get to talk about my…

I grew up in a musical family. Because my mother was a voice teacher, piano prodigy, and arranger, and because my father is a first tenor (who recently retired from directing his choir after 50 years), my sister and I grew up in an environment where music was always…

“It doesn’t seem that big to me,” I said before I had another bite of my food. Recently, after we wrapped production at my job, our team decided to celebrate a long week of filming with a quick meal. During one of our conversations, we started discussing the…

Math and I were not friends. During my elementary school years, I didn’t always have a natural aptitude for math. Whenever I talk about it, I often joke that since I’m a “creative” and creativity isn’t an exact science, a subject like math can be a headache solely because there’s…

Peyton Manning: Whether football fans like his teams or not, most of them will acknowledge he’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. I am one of those fans, but I never had a favorite team as much as I had a favorite quarterback. While I…

It’s one of Kristen Wiig’s most memorable “Saturday Night Live” characters and probably one of her most relatable. During her seven-year tenure as a cast member on the show, Wiig popularized a hilarious and slightly annoying character named Penelope. The sketches’ premise was pretty simple: During a seemingly innocuous gathering,…

For most people, the news came as a shock. During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the most decorated gymnast in the world, Simone Biles, made a startling announcement. Aside from experiencing mental fatigue, she was suffering from what gymnasts refer to as “the twisties”: a dangerous condition in which an athlete…

“You sound terrible,” my friend told me. She was correct. I was in my sixth week of a dry, wheezing cough. A cold I caught from one of my children quickly became an upper respiratory infection that terribly exacerbated my asthma. I was diagnosed with asthma in 2023, so I…

“You volunteered me to do what?” In 2016, our oldest son came home from school excited about an international festival taking place there in a few days. His class chose the country of Nepal. Students could make flags and posters or write a short essay on the country. But our…