Katrina's Real Storm Surge

Katrina's Real Storm Surge

How to Feel a Hurricane Even in Idaho

… Or Oregon, California, Ohio, wherever you’re not likely to be in the way of a direct hit. For me, it was simple, and while it was more comfortable than it was for the millions of people actually in Biloxi, Gulfport, or New Orleans, it was by no stretch easy.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 4

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 4

And now we come to the most important aspects of any hotel work. We get guests for all kinds of reasons and occasions. Tourists, convention attendees, wedding parties, families in town for funerals, people moving to the area who’ve yet to find a place, even a couple of families whose homes had burned down.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 0.5

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 0.5

After knowing some of what I’d endured, people may not only wonder why I tolerated my employment in hotel housekeeping as long as I did, but what possessed me to take such a job in the first place.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 3

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 3

Hotel Search and Rescue!

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 2

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 2

More spine-tingling, gut-wrenching tales from my time as a hotel housekeeper.

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 1

Horror and Heroics in the Hotel Industry 1

To get the family through grad school and job troubles, I took a few pretty thankless jobs. In the process, I discovered some shocking truths about what hotel housekeepers have to face every day.

Another Excerpt from the Life of an American Family

Another Excerpt from the Life of an American Family

"Every so often when I want to go out for sushi, catch the local international dance festival, or take in the music of my favorite German, Austrian, Italian, or Russian composers, my husband complains that I have something against American culture. Of course, if he goes with me, he ends up enjoying himself anyway. This time, when I suggested another cultural outing, he refused, deciding he’d rather hang out at the game shop and play Yu Gi Oh instead. I didn’t press the matter.

"His loss. While he was playing some card game that originated in Japan, we attended a celebration of real American culture."