Talking About Fear and Love

February 21, 2021

“Then I get a call back a couple of minutes later, and he said, ‘Sorry, I was wrong. You have the curable type, but you do have to go through chemo and radiation.'”

The New Me

March 6, 2019

I miss my son. I miss his face. I miss his bright blue eyes. I miss his gentle manner. I miss the way he would crawl around the house. I miss his smile. And I miss his laugh. God, I miss his laugh. And, I must say, I miss me. Carrying more weight Before Aidan […]

A Newborn and a New Hope

April 24, 2018

Arianna Frances Mallio wasn’t even a day old, and so very small. A tiny newborn child, I could hold in the crook of my arm with room to spare. I could cradle her head in the palm of my hand. She was swaddled in blankets, with a little pink hat on her head. Her eyes, […]

For the Love and Rights of Animals

January 16, 2018

Bruce Zeman was in the middle of a lot of things in November of 2009. He was moving back to Vermont, buying a house, getting married, and creating a new morning radio show for 92.1 WVTK-FM, in Middlebury. When he received a call from the Addison County Humane Society in Middlebury, Vermont, asking him to […]

The Day Everything Changed

June 15, 2017

Author’s Note: I always intended for this website to be a vehicle for me telling my own story, but I was concerned about how I would do it. I am not the first person to suffer tragedy, nor will I be the last. I didn’t want it all to be about me and I didn’t […]

Ordinary Heroes: Boston Cancer Support, Part II

April 25, 2017

BOSTON – When Susan Chaityn Lebovits and Beth Freeman teamed up to form the non-profit Boston Cancer Support (BCS), they wanted to identify and address some of the most pressing needs of cancer patients, their families, and the clinicians who work with them. To do this, BCS holds Cancer Collaborative workshops across the state three […]

Ordinary Heroes: The Lawrence Exchange Club

April 3, 2017

While stopping at a local Middle Eastern restaurant called Shadi’s in North Andover, I saw a poster advertising a charity boxing event. As someone who’s boxed on and off since college – and someone who’s lamented the sport’s gradual decline, I decided to enquire further about the event. I met the folks involved in sponsoring it and, as it turns out, they’re a group of dedicated residents of the Lawrence area who help raise money for the betterment of their community and its youth. I asked if it was all right to talk to them about their work in their community and as a result, I have the first of several articles about volunteering. It's called "ordinary heroes" and part one, starts with the Lawrence Exchange Club.

Notes from the Road: Blood Brothers

March 16, 2017

Bloodwork to Blood Brothers

Notes from the Road: Chemo Mix

March 9, 2017

Fight Songs I was, again, going through the journal that I kept while being treated for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and I found notes I had made on what songs I wanted to put on a Chemo Mix. These were songs to keep me in an “fight-like-hell” frame of mind while I endured drugs, radiation, and […]

Notes from the Road: Leukemia Journal

March 5, 2017

The Journal While undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), I kept a “leukemia journal” for a few months. I wish I had been more diligent and detailed about writing in it, but at the time, it wasn’t just ALL I was dealing with. About two weeks after my diagnosis, my younger son would die […]