Articles: Essay

Contact Kristin Ohlson for readings, talks, writing projects, etc.

Following Frank

I first saw Frank when I was twelve, a jittery small-town California girl during my first week in a public school at the weedy edge of town after six years at tiny St. Thomas Elementary School.

Unravelling man

Bipolar disorder can rage through life like a hurricane. So why does the US healthcare system leave us to cope alone?

Seized

We took our elderly father to the small California towns where our family lived – Oroville, Quincy, and Meadow Valley. What I found over and over was a rupture between memory and place, as well as a vast gulf between my older siblings’ past and mine.

Big Words

No one was making predictions about this child's capabilities. Twenty-seven years later, his mother still gets caught off guard.

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Included among the notable essays in Best American Essays 2005.

Rush Likes It?

Imagine my shock. I was sitting in my office looking out the window, when a friend called and said—very slowly so I couldn't miss the urgency—“Go to your radio and switch it over to AM and turn it to 1100. Rush Limbaugh is talking about you and your book right now.”

Faith in the Baby

They told me he was fine. I don't know that I ever believed them.