2021
Elaine’s short story Feeling Lucky is about how she experienced two DC-7 airplane engine fires as a child in 1959 and one Boeing 747 engine malfunction in 1975 on her only trips to Hawaii. Rarely do pilots experience any engine failure during their careers. So, although she will consider traveling anywhere else in the world, she’s too superstitious to try Hawaii again.
“Feeling Lucky.” A short story in Remember When: Fiction & Memoir Tales of Memories and Times Past. Redwood Writers 2021 Anthology.
2019
“You Don’t Need Fingers to Live” is a short story about Paul Langlois, a Coast Guard helicopter rescue hero, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, and the Coast Guard Academy’s 2019 distinguished alumnus. In 2009, he was diagnosed with a rare, often fatal disease called amyloidosis. He and his wife, Linda, have been fighting for his life ever since. He’s endured many medical complications and procedures, including a heart transplant, stem cell transplant, kidney failure, and the amputation of both hands and legs below the knees. His positive and optimistic attitude allows him to move forward with confidence and courage while facing the unknown and exemplifies the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus” or “Always Ready.” He is a role model for us all.
“You Don’t Need Fingers to Live.” A short story in ENDEAVOR: Stories of Struggle and Perseverance. Redwood Writers 2019 Anthology.
2018
“Sisters Before We Knew It” is a short story about Elaine’s #metoo experience at work. When she discovered the same man had sexually assaulted other women in the company, she rallied a group of the secretarial staff to support her claim, and they reported him to personnel. After a quick investigation, he was fired, ending the sexual harassment.
“Sisters Before We Knew It.” A short story in Redemption: Stories from the Edge. Redwood Writers 2018 Anthology.
2018
“El Diablo” chronicles Elaine’s near miss with a destructive dust devil twister on the highway in California’s Central Valley.
“El Diablo.” A poem in PHOENIX: Out of Silence…And Then. Redwood Writers 2018 Poetry Anthology.
2017
Elaine’s short story highlights the life of Sonoma County resident Barbara “Dusty” Roads and how she became known as the one who ignited the Second Wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement. As an American Airlines stewardess, airline industry union negotiator, and legislative lobbyist to Congress, Dusty fought regulations prohibiting marriage and requiring the firing or grounding of stewardesses at age thirty-two. It was a 15-year struggle during which Dusty and her colleague, Jean Montague, became the first in the United States to file a gender discrimination complaint with the EEOC after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Although the marriage ban and age policy were successfully challenged and overturned by the EEOC (and later in the courts), Dusty immediately intervened politically to avert a potential strike over continued contract disputes on those rules. As a result, American Airlines would be the first airline company to overturn them.
“History in Our Midst.” A short story in “SONOMA: Stories of a Region and its People”. Redwood Writers 2017 Anthology.