#fl.

NAME: William “Will” Becker GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Man / He/His AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 35 years old / January 12th HOMETOWN: Westerly, RI TIME IN WESTERLY: Returned 14 years RESIDENCE: Downtown OCCUPATION: Over Night Front Desk Manager at the Elliott Inn

ALL ALONG THERE WAS SOME      ——      invisible string.

It’d be nice, if for one moment, life would make some sense. Yet for Will, he always seems to have an opposite outlook. Having been born to a respected town council member and a real estate agent in Westerly, Rhode Island who were high school sweethearts, one would think it seemed like an ideal beginning that had a bright future ahead while he grew up in the idyllic, coastal small town. At least until tragedy struck when he was in his early teens, and his father fell ill, turning out to be diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. It rocked the family’s world, and they had to learn to take life day by day from then on. Shortly after Will turned fourteen, his father and idol for him passed away, having drastically turned life around, and leaving the path for the future further unknown.

He and his mother had to learn to move on in grief, and just as Will was about to graduate high school, she and met a doctor from Florida and eventually decided to move south to the state as well. For her son, that wasn’t what he wanted. It was one certainty in a constant of what seemed like un-ending questions. As college rejections seemed to come one after another, he’d reached a point where he’d just about had it. After so long of just wanting to get away from the small Rhode Island and start somewhere new to try and gain some semblance of answers and clarity for his own path, Will made a drastic move out to Los Angeles, California, still having not much of an idea as to what he was doing or where his life actually made sense. He ended up bussing at a variety of local restaurants to make ends meet for himself, his relationship with his mother becoming strained and practically non-existent and he honestly found himself not giving it a second thought.

He’d always thought that starting over and getting away from Westerly would make the most sense. But in reality, it seemed to have only made things worse. After a particular bout of an over-excess of drinks one night, a bout of alcohol poisoning caught up to him, and it was a sudden wake-up call of sorts that he’d truly hadn’t been looking in any directions at all for any clues as to where his life was actually going. It led to a realization that California wasn’t giving him any true answers either and so, he found himself packing up his belongings once more at twenty-one, strangely finding himself returning back to his hometown of Westerly, Rhode Island, as if it was some sort of premonition, returning to where his father’s memory would always be, and maybe, just maybe, that decision wouldn’t turn out to be a mistake.

Upon returning back to Rhode Island, he found a place to set down roots again in the downtown area of Westerly and decided to attend classes at a local college to earn a degree in business studies, all the while re-connecting with some old friends from high school who worked their way up in the ranks at the town’s infamous Elliot Inn, where they offered Will a chance and a job. Eventually, he worked through positions himself at the establishment to land a manager position in the overnight hours, finding that he took to working the ‘night shift’ and doesn’t mind the hours he’d been dealt. Something potentially started to make sense, more so than it ever had before.

It’s taken him into the present that he is now, currently thirty-five years old and having been back in his hometown for fourteen years now. Fourteen years that have flown by in what seemed like a flash, as if he had no idea that there was a string tied to Westerly that had ultimately pulled him back and he hadn’t realized it. Even if there still lies much ahead and a lot to figure out, who knew that all he had to do was to follow that invisible string back Rhode Island all along?

The Spanish Cross of Burgundy flying over the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL.

Megan Casey reviews Tank Baby by Iza Moreau

The short review is this: “Tank Baby is the first book in a marvelous new series that has the potential to, much like Nancy Drew did for past generations, capture the hearts and minds of young readers searching for a role model.” But because nothing is as simple as it sounds, here is the longer review:

Elodie Fontaine was born in Shanghai and for the first 7 years of her life, was part of her…

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A     ——      mad woman.

scorned and scathing, you could burn the world down if you wanted to. anger has never looked good on you, but you wear it like a badge of honor. you can only hope your revenge doesn’t fly back in your face, and the humiliation you’ve dealt with doesn’t increase tenfold. they see you as a laughing stock, a clown, but you’re done with the manipulation and the lies.