DEBORAH PRUM

PODCAST-GHOSTLIGHT-MOVIE REVIEW On the recommendation of my friend, I watched the Sundance, indie film, Ghostlight . Released in the summer of 2024, this movie hasn’t enjoyed a lot of buzz, which is unfortunate because it’s a gem.             I’m not going to say much about the plot because it unfolds in a nuanced way. I don’t want to reveal anything that would spoil the process. The film is an ex...

PODCAST-MY LIFE IN CARS My father gave me my first car, a 1965 Ford Fairlane. Although I had my driver’s license, I didn’t know out how to back up, park, or merge. To be honest, I couldn’t even start the car.  I’d always flood the engine. How did I get a license? The day of the exam, I aced the written section, but failed the road part. I couldn’t parallel park; nor could I negotiate a K-turn. For...

PODCAST-WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER Photo Courtesy of Ryan Ledbetter-Unsplash 0:00 / 0:00 We Are All In It Together One morning, as I drove down a narrow country lane in Charlottesville, I spotted an African-American child, about eleven, perched on a small pink bike. He sat in the middle of the road, precisely at the center of a blind curve. I thought, If a driver speeds around that curve, the c...

THE KEY TO FINDING INSPIRATION–CONVERSATION WITH SUE CUNNINGHAM ON LIVING POETRY Recently, poet and therapist, Susan Cunningham, interviewed me on her podcast, Living Poetry . We talked about how to find inspiration by paying attention, everywhere and all the time! In addition to sharing lots of good laughs, we touched on these topics: *Redeeming the pain of grief by channeling the energy of...

PODCAST-HIS THREE DAUGHTERS-MOVIE REVIEW Looking for a good movie? Check out His Three Daughters . Just after its release, the film received a 99% approval score. I am one of the 99%. I watched it on a Monday, then again, a day later. That’s how much I liked it.             Expertly written and directed by Azazel Jacobs, the film has a small, but outstanding cast. The oldest sister, Katie, played...

PODCAST-WITHOUT YOU HERE-BOOK REVIEW Strange, though, how joy rides on the back of sorrow. You have to feel both to feel either. And no amount of best intentions can keep you from hurting what you love. These sentences are an example of the beautiful, soul-nourishing prose one can expect to find in Jody Hobbs Hesler’s debut novel, Without You Here . Her descriptions are fresh and interesting. Chec...

PODCAST-THE PERFECT COUPLE-TV SERIES   Last week, as I searched Netflix, I came across a trailer for The Perfect Couple, a six-episode murder mystery starring Nicole Kidman, Liv Schreiber, and Eve Hewson. Even though the trailer hooked me with its quick succession of funny one-liners, I wondered if the show would be just a stale re-telling of an over-used trope: how rich people, literally and figu...

PODCAST-GANGSTER GRANNY Photo Courtesy of Pexels 0:00 / 0:00 Gangster Granny GANGSTER GRANNY first appeared in Medium . One morning, I wake up to an accusatory and largely inaccurate email. I haven’t recovered from that smackdown when I’m on the phone negotiating with a healthcare provider on behalf of my elderly mother. The “provider” gaslights me and refuses to help in any way. Hoping to red...

PODCAST-HELP-SHORT FICTION Photo Courtesy of Austin Chan 0:00 / 0:00 HELP-Short Fiction This short story first appeared in the Virginia Writers Project Journal . It is reprinted here with permission. Every morning, she shapes the word “HELP” in the steam on her glass shower door. She leaves it there for no one to see. She understands the grim futility of her gesture. Regardless, she admires he...

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PODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-WICKED LITTLE LETTERS I just watched a gem of a movie called Wicked Little Letters. The film is based on a true story about a hate mail scandal that occurred in the 1920’s in Littlehampton, England. A pious English woman named Edith Swan accuses her foul-mouthed Irish neighbor, Rose Gooding, of sending her obscene mail. Olivia Colman expertly plays the holier-than-thou Edith....

PODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-PERFECT DAYS 0:00 / 0:00 Perfect Days Recently, I watched Perfect Days . Released in 2023, it’s a film directed by Wim Winders. I’ll have to admit, I had a hard time sitting through the first hour of this movie, but then it grew on me. On the surface, nothing much happens. We follow Hirayama (played by Koji Yakusho) through each of his days, one after the other. He wakes u...

PODCAST-THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR-MOVIE REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 Wonderful World of Henry Sugar Last week, I decided to hold my own Wes Anderson Film Festival. I had a little time on my hands because I was stuck home with a respiratory bug, so I watched four of his short live action films: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (37 minutes), followed by three 17-minute films, The Rat Catcher ,...

PODCAST-THE CARETAKER-BOOK REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 The Caretaker-Book Review Ron Rash’s lovely novel hooked me on the first page then kept me engaged straight through to the end. He accomplished this by portraying his main characters in close point of view, which made me care about them immediately. Also, his vivid descriptions of place and actions transported me to the world of this tale. The nove...

HAZEL MOON-A SHORT STORY Photo Courtesy of Altinay Dinc 0:00 / 0:00 Hazel Moon One blistering hot day in June, eleven-year-old Hazel found herself waiting on the sagging front porch of her Grammy Moon’s ramshackle rambler. She’d never met the old woman. Furthermore, she hadn’t even known she had a grandmother until the week before when Hazel’s dying mother whispered, “Your father has a momma....

PODCAST-HOW TO PICK UP A CHICKEN Photo Courtesy of Sahand Balabi 0:00 / 0:00 Picking Up a Chicken   Picking up a live chicken requires a certain amount of intestinal fortitude, intestinal fortitude that everyone in my family lacks. And yet that doesn’t mean some of us aren’t good with animals. My son Ian is a stellar pet sitter, great with dogs, cats, and Beta fish. He’s especially skilled at...

PODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-THE LAST REPAIR SHOP 0:00 / 0:00 Last Repair Shop                     The Last Repair Shop is an award-winning documentary. The film tells the story of four amazing individuals in the Los Angeles school district who repair musical instruments then put them into the hands of students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to play.                   These children find...

PODCAST-MAISON MAGIQUE Photo Courtesy of  M.J. Tangonan 0:00 / 0:00 Maison Magique   MAISON MAGIQUE was published in Streetlight in April 2024.             I have a five-year-old grandchild who lives in Paris. Recently, she informed me that when she plays tag at her schoolyard, to avoid becoming “it,” all she must do is scurry to a yellow drum, touch it, and yell, “Maison Magique!” Those two w...

PODCAST-THE DAY THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED ON MY CAFETERIA WALL Photo Courtesy of Gaetano Cessati 0:00 / 0:00 The Day the Virgin Mary Appeared on My Cafeteria Wall The Day the Virgin Mary Appeared on My Cafeteria Wall was first published in the Blue Ridge Anthology:  Poetry and Prose of Central Virginia Writers , 2010.   THE DAY THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED ON MY CAFETERIA WALL   The Year of Our Lor...

DAMSEL-MOVIE REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 Damsel Movie Review Damsel is a girl-power fairy tale that will make you think twice about ever entering into an arranged marriage. The movie opens as Elodie (played by Milly Bobby Brown from Stranger Things ) is promised to Prince Henry by her father, Lord Bayford. The arrangement is purely financial. Prince Henry’s kingdom is flourishing. Lord Bayford rules ov...

PODCAST MY BRIEF LIFE OF CRIME Photo Courtesy of Drew Taylor 0:00 / 0:00 My Brief Life in Crime Jean De La Bruyere says, “If poverty is the mother of all crimes, lack of intelligence is their father.” This was true in my case. My first brush with crime happened when I was eight years old. At the time, we lived across from my school, Smalley Elementary. Weekdays, as my classmates passed by our...

This essay won first prize in the Golden Nib for non-fiction and just appeared in the 2023 edition of The Golden Nib, an anthology of the work of Virginia writers. 0:00 / 0:00 Love Is Blind-ish             Last winter, we bought a car that came with many safety features, including a blind spot monitor. Unfortunately, the monitor did not prevent someone who borrowed the car from backing into a...

Our House in the Cornfield 0:00 / 0:00 Life on Aspinook (First published in The Blue Nib Journal.   Re-printed with permission.)             For four years, I lived in a little white Cape Cod perched atop a bluff above Johnson’s Cove on Aspinook Pond, a small body of water that spilled out of the Quinnebaug River.  You can locate the exact site on any good map of Connecticut.  I had joined VIS...

MOVIE REVIEW: BANK OF DAVE 0:00 / 0:00 Bank of Dave   Bank of Dave is a true-ish story about a successful van salesman named Dave Fishwick. He’s a native of Burnley, a former mill town north of London. During the global financial crisis, Dave gave low-interest loans to his fellow townspeople, all of whom had been rejected by British banks. He donated all profits to local charities.        His...

AMERICAN SYMPHONY MOVIE REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 American Symphony If you can watch  American Symphony  without crying at least once, then you might need to have your tear glands checked. The documentary is about musician, Jon Batiste, and his wife, Suleika, a bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning journalist. Around the same time Batiste decides to compose a symphony that reflects the diversity...