Colleen Kruse

It’s not hard at all to kick back and get your nails done. And what you choose to have done to your nails conveys a message to the world around you. What will it be? Buff rimmed ovals just peeking over the edge of your fingertips? Vicious blood-red daggers? The Flojo? The Flojo is true … Read more

Over the course of my life I have belonged to several fringe groups: The Lutheran Church, the Actors Guild, and the Depot Bar’s Wednesday night dart league to name a few. Membership has its privileges, whether it’s 25 cents off tap beers between nine and 11, full coverage on tooth capping, or salvation with a … Read more

Listen up folks. Bathing suit season is upon us. We have very little time. As the temperature rises, the threat of exposure increases. Soon we will be obliged to reveal the acres of tender flesh we have been farming lo these past seven months. And ready or not, after Memorial Day, we will hit the … Read more

Hey, I’m luxury-minded. I understand the finer things in life. Pleasures can be simple, like a dish-soap bubble bath, for instance. Quiet time to read, perhaps. The fetal position.Life’s joy can be measured in things that cost big, too. Like telling someone what you really think, or buying produce at Lund’s in April. I understand … Read more

The problem with being a mother is that the definition of success is too damned narrow. You’re either a good mother, or a bad mother. No in-betweens, no wiggle room. If we can accept gray areas in politics and potlucks, why not parenting? I say this, of course, as I bury another body in the … Read more