Shows
DEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-TASK-TV SERIESPODCAST-TASK-TV SERIES
If you’ve read very many of my movie reviews, you’ll know that I love dark movies with redemptive underpinnings. The seven-episode TV series, Task, fits the bill. This crime procedural was written by Brad Inglesby, who also penned Mare of Eastown. Both series do a brilliant job of capturing gritty blue-collar life. Mare of Eastown is a mystery that keeps viewers in suspense, eager to discover the big reveal at season’s finale. The plot of Task is character driven; there’s no mystery to be solved. Instead, Inglesby creates narrative tension...
2025-10-2505 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-JOYRIDE-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-JOYRIDE-MOVIE REVIEW
I saw a snippet of Joyride on a long airplane flight. I found the film intriguing and always wanted to watch the whole movie, which I did last night with my fellow members of The Quirky Movie Club.
The plot: Twelve-year-old Mully (played by Charlie Reid) is singing in a pub to raise money for a charity that benefits cancer patients, the disease that recently has taken his mother. While singing, Mully notices his reprobate father making off with the collected cash. He chases his father, grabs the money, and hops...
2025-09-2504 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-SMOKE-TV SERIESPODCAST-SMOKE-TV SERIES
Smoke is a nine-episode Apple TV series based on Dennis Lehane’s book, Firebug. This thriller is dark and gritty, with its main theme being no one can escape the negative effects of a traumatic childhood. All the primary characters have backstories that have left them flawed. The writing is good and is often laced with a cynical and biting humor.
As the story opens, we viewers learn that a serial arsonist has set more than twenty fires in the city. The investigators are under great pressure to find the perpetrator. The plot is c...
2025-08-2604 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-NINE DAYS-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-NINE DAYS MOVIE REVIEW
I watched Nine Days a week ago. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Written and directed by Edson Oda, this surreal film is set in a clapboard house in the middle of a bleak desert. In this house, over the span of nine days, Will (Winston Duke) decides if a soul will be given the gift of life. If the answer is yes, that soul will be born on Earth with all the attributes they already possess. If they are not chosen, they cease to exist.
The so...
2025-07-2306 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-SLOW WALKING OUT OF BABYLONPODCAST-SLOW WALKING OUT OF BABYLON
*This originally appeared in Literally Stories, an international literary journal.
One day, I meet Beelzebub standing ahead of me in line at the To God Be the Glory Soup Kitchen. Bathed in the glare of the fluorescent lights that flicker above us, the man glistens. Shards of hard white light reflect off his glimmering jacket, obscuring my view.
But that one glimpse gives me the shivers.
Our line inches closer to the table and away from the dazzle-splattering tubes. I notice the expanse of...
2025-06-2018 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-DON’T ARRIVE BEFORE YOU GET THEREPODCAST-DON’T ARRIVE BEFORE YOU GET THERE
You can read this essay in Streetlight Magazine where it first appeared or down below.
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My writing mantra used to be, Fine is good enough. I made sure whatever I sent out was the best it could be. However, I worked fulltime and was the primary caretaker for three children. When I finished a manuscript, I checked for issues, then hit “send” before anyone came down with croup, required a ride to music lessons, or needed four zillion forms signed. I never lingered at the fi...
2025-06-1704 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-INSTANT FAMILY-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-INSTANT FAMILY-MOVIE REVIEW
Straight out of college, I took a job that gave me a year to “de-institutionalize” a group of 17-year-old kids who had spent their lives bouncing from one placement to another. My task was to equip them with the survival skills they hadn’t learned during their formative years. I was supposed to accomplish this before they turned 18, at which point the state would dump them on the curb.
These kids had heartbreaking histories. Angie lost her parents and siblings in a car crash. Lenny spent his early childhood chained to a radiator. My...
2025-05-2405 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMAPODCAST-PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMA
Photo Courtesy of Taylor Brandon
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Pistol Packin' Mama
Ninety-five years ago, my grandfather, Gaetano Boccaccio named my mother after his favorite Longfellow poem, Evangeline. Despite raising five children on a barber’s salary during the Great Depression, Gaetano made sure my mother took ballet, tap, and had French horn lessons. In high school, she played the French horn so well that she won a place in the All New England Orchestra.
Eva loved classical music, over the years becoming an expert of so...
2025-05-0804 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-THE GOD OF THE WOODS BOOK REVIEWPODCAST-THE GOD OF THE WOODS BOOK REVIEW
Liz Moore’s literary mystery is set in 1975 at a prestigious summer camp in the Adirondacks. This place requires coed campers (aged eight through teens) to participate in a minimally supervised survival exercise. They are placed in small groups, given scant supplies, then are sent into the deep forest overnight to fend for themselves. The last instructions they hear are, “Do not get in touch unless someone is dying.”
What possibly could go wrong?
In this case, the campers capture and roast a squirrel for supper. Prior...
2025-04-1006 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-CODE REDPODCAST-CODE RED
Photo courtesy of Jason Leung
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Code Red
Have you ever seen Das Boot (1981), the movie about a German submarine? I don’t recommend it. I don’t remember much about it except a terrifying few moments of sirens blaring, lights flashing, and Germans screaming, “ALARM!” This scene convinced me I’d never want to set foot on a submarine.
Sad to say, I feel as if I am in a Code Red Das Boot moment every time I turn on the news. So, these days I’ve been search...
2025-04-0205 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-TIME OF THE CHILD-BOOK REVIEWPODCAST-TIME OF THE CHILD-BOOK REVIEW
The first half of Time of the Child by Niall Williams moves ever so slowly, taking its time to build a solid framework for the captivating events of the second half. By the middle of this novel, we readers are intimately acquainted with the village of Faha, its topography, history, climate, culture, spiritual leanings, its people and the fascinating ways they are connected. Even though there’s not a lot of action for the first 130 pages, Williams builds narrative tension by making sure we readers care about the characters, both main and minor. He writes about the vil...
2025-02-2604 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-HIGH POTENTIAL-TV SERIESPODCAST-HIGH POTENTIAL-TV SERIES
Lately, I’ve been seeking low key, stress-free entertainment to keep my mind off reality. The television series High Potential fits the bill.Single mom, Morgan Gillory (played by Kaitlin Olson), is an exuberantly inappropriate savant whose antics get her in trouble with employers, past husbands, and the law, most specifically the LAPD, where she works as a janitor.The opening episode shows Morgan, music blasting into her air buds, wielding a dust brush, and dancing through empty offices. As she prances around swinging cleaning tools, she upends a stack of papers that are part of a mu...
2025-02-1904 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-IF I EVER DIEPODCAST-IF I EVER DIE
My father often started his sentences with the phrase, “If I ever die…” I never corrected him. I didn’t say, “Don’t you mean, when you die? You understand that dying is inevitable, right?”Instead, I wondered how he thought his life might play out. Did he believe he’d be carried off to heaven in a fiery chariot like Elijah in the Bible? Probably not.My father’s pronouncement didn’t seem to be influenced by any theological theories. The man simply disregarded his mortality, which resulted in his making risky choices, choices that evidenced questionable judgment...
2024-11-2906 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-DADDIO MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-DADDIO MOVIE REVIEW
Daddio is shot in the interior of a yellow taxicab on its way from JFK Airport to an apartment in Manhattan, a trip that normally takes forty minutes, with traffic. However, on this late night, the trip stretches to one hour and forty minutes because of a car accident. Not only does the movie take place in the cab, but most of the shots are of Clark (Sean Penn) and his passenger whom he calls Girlie, (Dakota Johnson). A few times, Clark turns to address Girlie, however, for the most part, viewers see their faces side-by-side, both l...
2024-11-2004 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-IRRESPONSIBLY GROWN POTATOESPODCAST-IRRESPONSIBLY GROWN POTATOES
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Irresponsibly Grown Potatoes
Recently, as I walked through the produce section of a grocery store, I passed a sign that said, “Responsibly Grown Potatoes.” Naturally, I began to imagine “Irresponsibly Grown Potatoes.”Would they be grown by a chain-smoking farmer, one who flicks his carcinogenic ashes on the crop?Or, maybe they’d be raised by a tipsy fellow who stashes a hip flask in his farmer jeans. Every day, he’d stagger around the fields dousing the nascent plants with a little hooch.Worse yet, that same man might drink and drive. All at once, my brain was fl...
2024-11-1503 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-WHEN TO CARE AND WHEN NOT TOPODCAST-WHEN TO CARE AND WHEN NOT TO
Photo Courtesy of Omar Salom
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When to Care and When Not To
(This essay originally appeared in Brevity.)My vocation is writing, but my avocation is painting, mostly portraits. I belong to a Facebook group dedicated to showing the work of artists who are trying to create loose watercolor paintings. Members range from people whose pieces could be displayed at a prestigious museum to beginners who are asking for comments and helpful tips on their first attempts.A self-avowed beginner posted several portraits online. Using vivid colors and bold strokes, her paintings portrayed p...
2024-11-1305 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-GHOSTLIGHT-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-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 excellent depiction of a family processing a difficult loss. However, it’s not a downer. One of the characters, the dad, gets lured into a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet, a plot po...
2024-10-3102 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-MY LIFE IN CARSPODCAST-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 some reason, the examiner said, “Oh hell,” and passed me anyway.That first winter, the floor beneath the Fairlane passen...
2024-10-2504 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHERPODCAST-WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER
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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 child will be killed. I need to tell him to get out of the way.Over the years, racial tensions in our town have been high. A millisecond later, that fact informed...
2024-10-1804 minDEBORAH PRUMTHE KEY TO FINDING INSPIRATION-CONVERSATION WITH SUE CUNNINGHAM ON LIVING POETRYTHE 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 the emotion into creative endeavors. *Realizing that failing to forgive can block creativity.*Using dark humor to lighten the tone when writing about difficult topics.*Knowing when to stop revising and release your creation into the world.*At o...
2024-10-1102 min
Living PoetryPay Attention - Deborah M. Prum Featured Fiction & Resources: Deborah M. Prum Help Our Lady of Perpetual Mold Gravity
2024-10-0840 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-HIS THREE DAUGHTERS-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-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 by Carrie Coons, is rigid and fierce—and that’s on her good days. The middle sister, Rachel, (Natasha Lyonne) is brash, tenderhearted, and can’t get through a sentence without including obscenities, even when she’s bei...
2024-09-3006 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-WITHOUT YOU HERE-BOOK REVIEWPODCAST-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. Check out this, for example: Silence continues to pump up the stairs like smoke. For me, the mark of a good book is the number of sentences you underline while reading. I found ple...
2024-09-2504 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-THE PERFECT COUPLE-TV SERIESPODCAST-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 figuratively, get away with murder.I didn’t have to worry. The acting, including the minor characters, is excellent. The pacing kept me so engaged that I didn’t scroll on my cellphone or leave the couch...
2024-09-1604 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-GANGSTER GRANNYPODCAST-GANGSTER GRANNY
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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 reduce my stress, I book an end lane at the pool. I choose the end lane because of my poor technique. I learned to swim in my thirties. “Learned” is a generous way of describing my signature stroke, fran...
2024-09-0907 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-HELP-SHORT FICTIONPODCAST-HELP-SHORT FICTION
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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 her tenacity, her daily attempt to call for the calvary to show up, but not the actual calvary. Not real people. She desires celestial involvement, an ethereal not corporeal intervention, some cosmic shift that would render life bearable again.
She doesn’t cry...
2024-09-0108 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-TV REVIEW-PRESUMED INNOCENT/*! elementor - v3.23.0 - 05-08-2024 */
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Years ago, I read Scott Turow’s book, Presumed Innocent. Later, I saw the movie starring Harrison Ford. I liked both, so when Apple released Da...
2024-08-1504 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-WICKED LITTLE LETTERSPODCAST-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. Jessie Buckley, as Rose, provides a feisty counterpoint to Edith’s piety. Anjana Vasan plays Gladys Mosby. Her official title is “Woman Police Inspector.” To no avail, Mosby insists that everyone just call her “Police Inspector,” but they never d...
2024-08-0803 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-PERFECT DAYSPODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-PERFECT DAYS
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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 up in a small room that contains little other than a row of books neatly stacked on the floor along the perimeter. He washes and shaves, climbs to a small attic and mist...
2024-07-3005 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR-MOVIE REVIEWPODCAST-THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR-MOVIE REVIEW
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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, The Swan, and Poison.The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar turned out to be my favorite. Based on a Roald Dahl book of the same name, the movie won an Oscar in 2024. Benedict Cumberbatch...
2024-06-2904 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-THE CARETAKER-BOOK REVIEWPODCAST-THE CARETAKER-BOOK REVIEW
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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 novel is based on a true story Rash’s uncle told him about wealthy parents who vehemently disapproved of their son’s choice of a bride and went to extraordinary measures to end the relationship. The details of the...
2024-06-2607 minDEBORAH PRUMHAZEL MOON-A SHORT STORYHAZEL MOON-A SHORT STORY
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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. Living up north, Ashburn way. Be sure to remember that now.”The night after cancer stole her mother, Hazel’s drunk father skipped town. The next morning, the mailman discovered Hazel crying by the rose bushes in...
2024-05-1026 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-HOW TO PICK UP A CHICKENPODCAST-HOW TO PICK UP A CHICKEN
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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 caring for ant farms and hermit crabs. Practically a genius. But chickens? You can count on him to water and feed them. And, with a plastic bag wrapped around his hand, he’ll even...
2024-05-0303 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-THE LAST REPAIR SHOPPODCAST-MOVIE REVIEW-THE LAST REPAIR SHOP
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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 a safe haven in music. They find a new way to express themselves. Some of them even end up with successful careers in music. The film is moving. Each of the adults who dedicate their lives to repairing instruments gave touching testimonies about how much their work means to them. I was brought to tears lis...
2024-04-0702 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-MAISON MAGIQUEPODCAST-MAISON MAGIQUE
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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 words keep her safe. “Nothing bad can happen to you in maison magique, Deb-deb.” She calls me “Deb-deb” to get around the parental edict, “You may not call an adult by her first name.”My grandchild’s voice is reassuring because she believes what she assert...
2024-04-0405 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-THE DAY THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED ON MY CAFETERIA WALLPODCAST-THE DAY THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED ON MY CAFETERIA WALL
Photo Courtesy of Gaetano Cessati
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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 Lord 1964 So, there were these two kids--twins--Donnie and Donna Donnatto. Can you believe that? Actually, he was called Little Donnie because his father was known as Big Donnie. Somebody told me their mother was named LaDonna, but I don't know t...
2024-03-1806 minDEBORAH PRUMDAMSEL-MOVIE REVIEWDAMSEL-MOVIE REVIEW
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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 over a poor village that is on the verge of extinction.Robin Wright plays Queen Isabelle, mother of Prince Henry. She is the wicked ruler of that affluent kingdom. Robin Wright is an actress who has not aged a na...
2024-03-1404 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST MY BRIEF LIFE OF CRIMEPODCAST MY BRIEF LIFE OF CRIME
Photo Courtesy of Drew Taylor
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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 apartment building, they littered with abandon, dropping candy wrappers, chewed up gum and school papers. Each Saturday, my father paid me a nickel to pick up the mess.After scho...
2024-03-0704 minDEBORAH PRUMLove is Blind-ishThis 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.
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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 Mercedes Benz. I’m not upset about the mishap.I have great affection for the borrower of my car which caused me to frame how I viewed the accident. I decided that the driver had been facing a Berm...
2024-02-1010 minDEBORAH PRUMLIFE ON ASPINOOK PONDOur House in the Cornfield
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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 VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), a branch of the Peace Corps. I’d rented the house with John and Sheila, two other VISTA volunteers. I worked with troubled teens, wards of the state who had been...
2024-02-0221 min
I Talk To GhostsMind-Blowing Near Death ExperiencesSurely, you have wondered what happens when we stand on the precipice between life and... whatever lies beyond? Tonight, we are diving into breath-taking stories of individuals who have glimpsed past the veil and returned with tales of out of body experiences. Near death experiences intrigue us on so many different levels. Please share your thoughts in the episode comments!After the stories, stay for more spirits. Join Jennifer as she shares an in-studio medium reading with her guest of the week, Diane. (Diane, thank you for your time and energy!) Then linger near the s...
2024-01-1241 minDEBORAH PRUMMovie Review: BANK OF DAVEMOVIE REVIEW: BANK OF DAVE
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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 efforts were so successful that Dave decided to hire a tony London law firm, asking them to help him establish a local bank, run by a commoner for the benefit of commoners. He planned to contin...
2024-01-0904 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST-AMERICAN SYMPHONY-MOVIE REVIEWAMERICAN SYMPHONYMOVIE REVIEW
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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 of music in America, he learns that his wife’s leukemia has returned.The opening scene showed Batiste sitting in a snowy field, staring into the distance. As the camera stayed focused on his face, I noticed a drop of “moisture” clinging to the t...
2023-12-2602 minDEBORAH PRUMPODCAST: DEAR SANTA, A REPRISEDEAR SANTA
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Dear Santa
Dear Santa:As you might remember, when I was seven, all I wanted for Christmas was a live horse and a real gun. I envisioned myself patrolling our neighborhood, on the lookout for bad guys. I didn’t intend to shoot the bad guys, only brandish my firearm, telling them, “Stop picking on the little guys. Be good or else.”And Santa, you know we did have some actual bad guys in our neighborhood, two gangs similar to the Sharks and Jets, but our gangs called themselves The Earls and The Lords. They sounded like British royalt...
2023-12-2303 minDEBORAH PRUMHOW WATCHING PIXAR, INDIANA JONES & SEINFELD CAN UNSTICK A STUCK STORYUNSTICKING A STUCK STORY
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Unsticking a Stuck Story
An idea for a great character drops into your mind. Then, you compose what you believe to be a magnificent first sentence, “Two hours before Simon’s life took a nightmarish turn for the worse, he stood in his grimy bathroom, under the dim light of a single yellow bulb, hacking away at his shaggy brown hair with his ex-wife’s dull garden shears.” As you write the last word of that sentence, you feel triumphant. In fact, you are so bold as to say the word, “Brilliant!” out loud.You spend the next few days, month...
2023-12-2104 minDEBORAH PRUMMOVIE REVIEWS: LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND & LOVE AND MONSTERSMOVIE REVIEWS:LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND AND LOVE & OTHER MONSTERS
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Leave This World Behind
A glutton for punishment, last weekend I watched two end-of-the-world movies: Leave the World Behind and Love and Monsters. (Yes, my social life leaves a lot to be desired.)Leave the World Behind stars four wonderful actors, Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, and in a supporting role, Kevin Bacon. Early one morning, Amanda (Roberts) and Clay (Hawk) leave their NYC apartment with their teenagers and head to a vacation home at a nearby beach. Opening scenes are captivating: the city skyline, the shoreline vistas, and t...
2023-12-1407 minDEBORAH PRUMBOOK REVIEW: EVERYBODY HERE IS KIN BY BETTYJOYCE NASHEVERYONE HERE IS KINBOOK REVIEW
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Everybody Here is Kin
Using only thirty-eight words, the first sentence of Nash’s debut novel vividly describes two main characters, their behavior, beliefs, and financial status. Nash writes, “Naomi and I slogged through sand so hot it scalded our tender feet, lugging two rusted lounge chairs and a bag between us—her Coppertone tanning oil, my SPF 35; her Thermos of Pinot Grigio, my lemon water.” Throughout the book, Nash writes with great economy, making every word count. By page three, we know Lucille is passionate about climate change and the environment. She cares deeply about the injustice...
2023-11-3004 min
NIGHTTIME TALK WITH NIALL BOYLANInterview with author Deborah Prum, speaks about her near death experiences and how they have changed her lifeInterview with author Deborah Prum, speaks about her near death experiences and how they have changed her life
2023-11-1729 minDEBORAH PRUMBENEDETTA\’S LENTILS–SO GOOD THAT THEY COULD CONVERT A CARNIVOREPODCASTBENEDETTA'S LENTILS
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Benedetta's Lentils
Benedetta, my grandmother, made the best lentil soup, food that warmed body and soul on many a cold winter evening. She’d send it home with us in a Mason jar, frequently accompanied by a delicious loaf of bread. As hard as I’ve tried, I’ve never been able to replicate that bread—crusty on the outside, sweet and chewy on the inside. However, I believe I’m getting close on the lentil soup.A few years back, when Benedetta was around 103 years old and could still hear telephone conversations, I called her and asked for the le...
2023-11-1705 minDEBORAH PRUMPodcast: SAFETY, ITALIAN STYLESAFETY, ITALIAN STYLE
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Safety, Italian Style
When I was eighteen, my cousin Giovanni visited us from Italy. I sat in the passenger seat of Giovanni’s rental car as he sped through a red light at a busy intersection. I shrieked, “Stop. Stop. You’ve got to stop!” Giovanni smiled and said, “In Italy, red light is optional.” Giovanni wasn’t kidding. When my husband and I visited Tuscany, we discovered that some Italians considered all rules of the road optional. Our most hair-raising traffic event occurred on a curvy mountain road descending from a small village. When I say “mountain road,” I mean a paved goat path so narrow that it could not...
2023-11-1004 minDEBORAH PRUMNO HARD FEELINGS–MOVIE REVIEWNO HARD FEELINGSMOVIE REVIEW
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No Hard Feelings
Jennifer Lawrence is a good actress with broad range. If you don’t believe me, check out one of her earlier, pre-fame films, Winter’s Bone. The movie is based on a gritty book by Daniel Woodrell and portrays the desperation of extreme poverty. The actress gives a performance that is both mesmerizing and gut wrenching. Because I appreciate Jennifer Lawrence’s skills, I wanted to like No Hard Feelings, but I wound up with some misgivings. Here is the premise of the movie. Lawrence plays Maddie, a woman in her young thirties who is living in...
2023-10-2704 minDEBORAH PRUMFIRST KISSFIRST KISS
Debby and The Gorilla at High School Play
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First Kiss
Names are changed to protect the guilty. My first kiss was planted on me by a seventeen-year-old guy in a gorilla suit.My junior year, our drama club decided to perform Murders in the Rue Morgue. Mrs. Sardi, the director, gave me the part of a little old lady who is attacked by a simian creature, carried across stage, then thrown out an open window.That meant I’d be on stage three minutes and would be dead for a good chunk of the time. I’d been hoping for a non...
2023-10-1405 minDEBORAH PRUMSINKINGSINKING
Photo Courtesy of Stormseeker
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Sinking
(Originally published in Streetlight Magazine.) I attended a state university that required you to pass a swim test to graduate. I will not mention the name of the institution because I’m about to malign them. When the orientation materials arrived by snail mail, included in the package was an inquiry about whether I could swim. I could not swim. The thought of getting into a pool terrified me. I grew up in a city apartment surrounded by a sea of asphalt and concrete. We had no access to water for recreational purposes, not even a leaky f...
2023-10-0204 minDEBORAH PRUMMOVIE REVIEW: LOVE AT FIRST SIGHTLOVE AT FIRST SIGHTMOVIE REVIEW
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Love at First Sight
On December 20th, on her way to her father’s second wedding, Hadley Sullivan (played by Haley Lu Richardson) misses her flight to London by four minutes. This is not surprising. She is late 21% of the time, which, coincidently is the average battery life of her cellphone. While waiting for the next flight out, she heads for a re-charging station and meets Oliver Jones (played by Ben Hardy) who is punctual 94% of the time, which, coincidently is the average battery life on his phone. He is waiting to board that same fl...
2023-09-1904 minDEBORAH PRUMSPIDER–Flash Fiction in MacQueen\’s QuinterlySPIDER
Photo Courtesy of Julian Gobel
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Spider
MacQueen’s Quinterly published my flash fiction, Spider. You may read it in the journal.Or, here below.A medium-sized spider climbed her husband’s pant leg, his obscenely expensive pant leg. The Brioni suit had cost $4,500. When Preston’s second wife grumbled about the charge on their credit card, he laughed. “Swimming with the big fish now. Got to dress for success.” She and Preston sat close to each other at a table for six, the four other people being potential investors in her husband’s venture capital company, Sage Enterprise. She considered brushing away th...
2023-08-1607 minDEBORAH PRUMBRUSSELS SPROUTS–A CAUTIONARY CHRISTMAS TALEBRUSSELS SPROUTSA CAUTIONARY TALE
Photo Courtesy of Jodi Pender
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Brussels Sprouts
I used to have impossibly high hopes for family holiday dinners. I blame Norman Rockwell. Remember his painting of a well-dressed family gathered around a flawlessly set table? The children, parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents sit shoulder-to-shoulder, admiring an unpardoned turkey that was browned to perfection. In my opinion, this painting is based on magical thinking, at least regarding our family.For example, at one Thanksgiving dinner, a single Brussels sprout set off a series of unfortunate mishaps. That day, we gathered around a nicely set table: a crisp w...
2022-12-2904 minDEBORAH PRUMHOLDING VIGIL: FOSTER CAREHOLDING VIGIL:FOSTER CARE
Photo Courtesy of Atharva Tulsi
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Holding Vigil
One result of the overturn of Roe v. Wade will be that many more children will be entering foster care, a system that is already underfunded and overwhelmed. Years ago, at my first job out of college, I saw firsthand how a broken foster care system caused great suffering for the teens under its care.Back then, I worked with seventeen-year-old wards of the state, who had spent most of their lives in one foster placement after another. By the time I’d met them, they had been shipped to...
2022-10-0110 minDEBORAH PRUMDISPLACEDDISPLACED
Photo Courtesy of Farid Ershad
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Displaced
Mid-August last year, when Fatema* answered her cell phone, she heard her sister Shaima’s frantic voice, “I’m at the airport. Can you bring me my passport right now?”Not a simple request. On a normal day, it would have been dangerous for Fatema, who was 23 and single, to ride in a cab alone. That day, Taliban soldiers filled the streets of Kabul, harassing and detaining thousands of people, many of whom were fleeing to the Hamid Karzai International Airport. If she ventured out, she could lose her life or disappear forever.Fatema’s...
2022-04-2705 minDEBORAH PRUMEINSTEIN ON TIMEEINSTEIN ON TIME
Photo Courtesy of Taton Moise
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Einstein on Time
I can’t pretend to understand what Einstein meant when he said that time was an illusion. In fact, I can’t pretend to understand much of what Einstein said. What I do know is that living during these Covid years has shifted how I experience time.Pre-Covid, I worked hard to tame time into manageable chunks. I exported all my scheduling to the brain of my smartphone. The chirping alarm warned me to floss before a dental appointment, change the oil before my engine seized and to send paym...
2022-04-1804 minDEBORAH PRUMBonfire of the Vanities: Coming to a School Board Near YouBONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
Photo Courtesy of Hans Isaacson
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Bonfire of the Vanities
Twenty years ago, a reporter called me with bizarre news, so bizarre that I instantly wrote him off as a prank caller. He claimed he was from a town out West, maybe in Colorado? I am fuzzy on the details. I didn’t write down a word he said because I didn’t believe he could be serious.He asked if I was the author of Rats, Bulls and Flying Machines: A History of the Renaissance and Reformation. I replied in the affirmative, wishing he’d get to the...
2022-03-2304 minDEBORAH PRUMPIVOTING INTO 2022 (PODCAST)PIVOTING INTO 2022
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Pivoting into 2022
This past Thanksgiving, all our grandkids were visiting. At one point, three-year-old Bea and four-year-old Hank decided to prepare for an imaginary beach trip. Hank packed several face masks into his yellow leather bag and Bea jammed a bunch into her blue vinyl purse. Then, off they went, pushing an umbrella stroller filled with stuffed animals.Face masks? Why not bathing suits and sunscreen?I realized these two little ones had spent most of their sentient lives in a pandemic. Life during covid is the only life they have ever known. It’s no surprise that they’d pack the...
2021-12-2903 minDEBORAH PRUMJACK\’S GRANNY AUDIO FOR KIDS OF ALL AGESJACK'S GRANNYA STORY FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES
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Jack's Granny
Some grannies knit and some grannies bake bread.But Jack’s granny plays the banjo. Jack’s Granny settled into her rickety rocking chair and began to fiddle with the tuning pegs on her banjo. Both Jack and his granny could hear excited clucking from the hen house. Inside the barn, all the hens were getting gussied up for their favorite night of the year: The Spring Chicken Cotillion. Prudence gazed intently into a cracked mirror. “Help me glue on my eyelashes, Mother,” she said to a plump old hen who looked on with approval. ...
2021-12-1206 min
The Writer's StoryThe Write Start: Virginia Festival of the Book panelThe Virginia Festival of the Book was canceled this year due to the coronavirus, so the Moseley critique group decided to make their publishing day panel "The Write Start" virtual! In this podcast, Deborah M. Prum, Jody Hobbs Hesler, BettyJoyce Nash and Meredith Cole critique the first 100 words of the 14 anonymous entries they received for the festival. They give the authors feedback on tone, genre, voice, word choice and more.
Find out how to support the Virginia Festival of the Book here.
2020-03-191h 16
The Writer's StoryEpisode 7: Guest Deborah PrumKristin and Meredith discuss writing groups and finding a writing community with guest Deborah Prum, author of humorous short fiction, award-winning short stories and historical non-fiction. With years of experience in writing groups, Deb gives tips on how to start and facilitate an effective writing group for all genres.
2019-07-3051 min
1623 Studios PodcastsCape Ann Report - Changing Library Services on Cape AnnMaureen Aylward, host of Cape Ann Report, talks with Cindy Grove, Director of the Rockport Public Library, Deborah Kelsey, Director of the Sawyer Free Library (Gloucester), and Katherine Prum, Community Engagement Facilitator at the Saywer Free Library (Gloucester) about the changing library services on Cape Ann. They discuss the advantages of library services, which are evolving to fit community needs, with technology. They also talk about libraries as places the community can gather and about the surprising trend of millennials utilizing public libraries.
2019-01-0329 min
All Souls Charlottesville(10.25.15) Rule Of Life - It's All About The Heart [Deborah Prum]This is the 3rd in our sermon series on preparing for our annual Rule of Life. Sermon text(s): 1 Samuel, 2 SamuelIntro for Sermon Podcasts Outro for Sermon AudioWe are a community hoping to live the Jesus-way in our city as a people of God’s hospitality, God‘s restoration, and God’s shalom. Learn more about All Souls Charlottesville: www.allsoulscville.com
2016-02-0220 minDEBORAH PRUMCaught in the Jaws of a Claw0:00
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Caught in the Jaws of a Claw
My exercise essay appeared in The Daily Progress today. See below: CAUGHT IN THE JAWS OF A CLAW Have you ever wanted to be someone you’re not?So, one day I was at the gym exercising on the calf-stretching machine. As you might imagine, calf-stretching is boring, so I looked to my left to see my friend, Debbie who sat inside this claw-like apparatus, pushing up and out against what looked like a heavy weight.Debbie is blonde, gorgeous and sported classy gym duds. She also holds an advanced degree in Chemical Engineering.She i...
2014-02-1602 minDEBORAH PRUMBiking Whitetop Radio EssayIf you have time, please listen to my three minute essay "Biking Whitetop" which aired this morning on NPR-member station WVTF: Biking Whitetop
BIKING WHITETOP
I'm the one on the left.
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Biking Whitetop
I used to be adventurous. I used to be a risk taker. But, at some point, my everyday life took over: cooking, shopping, de-worming the dog. I lost track of my dreams. And in recent years, the greatest risk I’ve taken is to eat at a breakfast place the Health Department routinely cites for cleanliness. So, last fall, when a friend asked me to go on a thirty-four mil...
2013-02-0503 minDEBORAH PRUMLocked in the Loo at the Louvre Radio EssayIf you have time, please listen to my 3 minute essay Locked in the Loo at the Louvre which just aired on NPR-member station, WVTF:
PrumsBathroomAdventures
LOCKED IN THE LOO AT THE LOUVRE
Photo Courtesy of Calvin Craig
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Locked in the Loo
What kind of person travels across Europe seeing splendid sights, eating marvelous meals, then comes home and writes about bathrooms?Yet, why describe the sublime, when you can as easily talk about the ridiculous? In Europe the first order of business is determining which room is dedicated to your gender. Signs with words, even foreign words, give you a fighting chanc...
2012-11-2803 min