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BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR
a youngest child's perspective on the world, having grown up in an industrial town, waitressed for a decade, and then gone to law school
ABOUT
But that's not fair is a collection of personal essays and creative nonfiction by Robyn Ashley Schleihauf. The essays below have not yet been accepted for publication elsewhere. Please contact Robyn if you wish to discuss publication.
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I’m crazy: is it really anxious attachment or am I just walking with Patsy Cline?
Mark is a short, pale, bald, white man with deep set blue eyes and a smile my friend Megan once described as roguish – a word that is...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jun 24, 20256 min read
Peanuts
Somebody in my neighbourhood leaves peanuts out for the squirrels. I know because I find single, whole peanuts everywhere - by the lake,...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jun 7, 20243 min read
Help isn't coming
Help isn’t coming. No one is on the way. You can scream and yell, but no one is going to show up. If they do it’s only to tell you to ask...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Nov 30, 20233 min read
Chapter 2: the envelope
Cynthia opened the door, blinking as the sun hit her eyes. There was no one there. Probably kids, she thought, but then remembered they...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Oct 30, 20223 min read
Chapter One: Hoover
Cynthia lit a cigarette and looked down at her manicured hand resting on the brown handle of the hoover. Chuck had bought that vacuum for...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jun 9, 20224 min read
(somewhat) solicited advice
Dear Molly, This is a letter your teacher made you ask people in your life to write, but I feel really lucky to be able to do it. There...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jul 19, 20212 min read
Hope is like an appendix
On a weekday afternoon late last spring, sitting at my desk with a fan pointed at my face moving the tepid air of my apartment about, I...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Apr 1, 20213 min read
How to quit drinking: thank you, but our princess is in another castle
Eventually, you do end up at the final castle, either shrunk down and small or tall and whipping fireballs...This is how I killed Bowser.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Sep 6, 20207 min read
Stopping
I counted and recounted the myriad of reasons I definitely did not, absolutely could not possibly, have a problem with alcohol.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Aug 23, 20205 min read
The sweet sultry salve to save you
She started by drawing a line between people with addictions and people without addictions. She then explained that addicts lack...
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jul 12, 20208 min read
Rule breakers
We’ve all of us broken our bubbles, no longer adhering to the Provincial ordinance to only see our chosen people from one other household.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jun 28, 20206 min read
What's the point?
A bureaucrat at the university slams a 1000 page tome on her desk and looks at you pointedly.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Jun 7, 20208 min read
Play until the streetlights come on
My dad brought the wagon along to pick me up, which I am obviously too old to enjoy but happily jump into as soon as we round the corner.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
May 24, 20205 min read
Dispatches from solitude
“if anyone needs me, I’ll just be over here realizing I need far more validation than I thought I did.”
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
May 10, 20206 min read
Chemical Valley, Turkey, and Bleach: the importance of good hygiene in a pandemic
“There was a guy in here with a bleach rag,” she says, shaking her head, putting a can of tomatoes into one of my bags.
Robyn Ashley Schleihauf
Apr 10, 20204 min read
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