Claire's Life

Today - November 21, 2019 - is the 3,000th day since I injured my spine. I remember the exact date of the injury (September 4, 2010) because it was the same day that I was issued my Massachusetts EMT license. That night, while taking a shower, I leaned forward...and broke my back. Yup, apparently it's just that easy to wreck your physical health. Sleep tight, dear readers! As it happens, today is also the day on which I leave a job I've done for 4 years. If 4 years does not sound like a long time, keep in mind that I've been organizing volunteer programs longer than I've ever done any other type of job. (Excepting my work in my grandmother's auction barn, which was less regular but went on for longer.) My last day of work calls to mind several other days. For one, there's November 20, 2014, the day I interviewed for this job. I was 12 weeks out from my second spinal surgery (and only 4 weeks out from a car accident that majorly set back my recovery). I was st

Last July, I reported part one of the findings from my multi-year "Dead Fictional Girlfriends Research Project." Now, after 13 months of additional research, I have prepared Part Two: Captain James T. Kirk. The Franchise Star Trek  was a low-budget sci-fi series that got summarily canceled after 3 seasons, and then had a major impact on literally every aspect of American culture, including our language, our space program, and our telecommunications science. Part of this impact came from the extremely efficient way in which it built a world. For example, have a look at Episode 1, Scene 1, which aired at 8:30 PM on September 8, 1966: To sum up, in the first 45 seconds of airtime, this show establishes: The main characters live on a spaceship; Their first officer is an alien; This ship is orbiting an inhabited alien world; People can materialize (beam) from place to place; This spaceship's missions include medical examinations of alien archaeologists, one of

One of my jobs at work is coordinating "citizenship clinics:" one-day events where we bring together lawyers, paralegals, and trained volunteers to help Legal Permanent Residents apply for naturalization. The volunteers mostly take charge of typing - or, sometimes, handwriting - the appropriate forms. The N-400 Application for Naturalization is 20 pages long, and depending on your income level you either have to enclose: $725; or  $325 plus a completed I-942 Application for Reduced Fee; or a completed I-912 Application for Fee Waiver All of these forms are written in legalese, and getting them wrong can lead to your deportation. As you may imagine, lots of prospective citizens are too intimidated to fill them out solo. That's where citizenship clinics come in. In December 2017, I got an email from my contact at the legal department of Gay Men's Health Crisis. She had copied someone from the legal department of Catholic Migration Services. They had a question

5 years ago today, two bombs blew up at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I was in my senior year at Boston College, which sits along mile 21 of the marathon. Like every other student, I had been watching the marathoners go by on Commonwealth Avenue all day. Like many other students, I was also a licensed EMT who volunteered with the campus first aid squad. While I wasn't technically on duty that day, when the bombing happened I suited up and reported. Which is how I ended up in St. Ignatius Church with 400 stranded marathon runners, and several dozen volunteer EMTs trying to triage patients, provide comfort, and make sense of everything. It was something of a watershed moment for Eagle EMS, which has since been renamed BC EMS , and which still coordinates emergency medical care along mile 21. It was also a traumatic day for lots of people, myself included. I get sad and nervous on every April 15, and in fact I've spent most of today sleeping and/or hiding in my apart

In December, during an impromptu snowball fight on the roof of my apartment building, my boyfriend dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so excited that I grabbed the ring straight out of the box. 15 minutes later my mind caught up with itself and I said, "Wait a minute, you were supposed to put it on me." Q. How easygoing is Bryan? A. He got back on one knee and let me take the ring off so he could put it on me. In the immediate aftermath, we both hugged each other, shivered a bit, and realized that there's no social script for what you're supposed to say next, after "yes." About 20 minutes in, I said, "We should call our parents, right?" Bryan nodded, but neither of us reached for a phone. Five minutes after that, I sheepishly said, "Well, I'm supposed to be writing a final paper right now, but maybe you could call your parents first?" Q. How square is Claire? A. She started doing homework during her ow