Melanie McDonough

Melanie McDonough

Puzzle Table Hack

One thing I do to relax is: build jigsaw puzzles. Every year, right around Thanksgiving time, I set up a card table and toss a puzzle onto it. Building the puzzle becomes my

Never Hurry, Never Rest

I awoke at 6am this morning and was out of bed by 7am because that's when my brain wouldn't let me rest anymore. I'm not writing about

Prison: Nine Years Later

It's December 1st. Almost every person I spoke with today mentioned this phenomenon with some sense of foreboding awe - the first day of the last month of the year. There

Disenfranchisement & Beyond

There are few achievements I am proud of in my life but today, on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/civil-rights/voting-rights-act], I'm not

Forbidden

This is a writing assignment addressing the struggle I face to freely express myself as a writer. It's a visualization of the personal handicap I endure in feeling I am forbidden