Meet Elizabeth…

“My background is in the theater. I performed for 25 years in the Twin Cities. Now my focus is on writing. I advocate for incarcerated people and their children. My play “Supernova” can be found on the Open-Door Playhouse podcast.”

Incarcerated: 14 years

Housed: Minnesota Correctional Facility, Shakopee

I don’t know which cat originated the game. Laying in bed, I hear an unfamiliar noise. My brain begins to rolodex the sound. It registers. Bird wings flutter. I instantly go from a cozy sweet state to an eye-popping Oh my God, there is a bird flying in our living room. Peeling off blankets, I run to witness my three cats “catch and release” a sparrow and bring it undamaged into the house. On high alert, the cats run wild-eyed and action-ready while a frantic sparrow searches for a safe place to land. I wrangle cats one by one and toss them in the bathroom. I close all doors and then open the front and back doors. Guiding the distressed bird towards an exit takes several minutes that feel like forever. After the bird makes it to freedom, I’m left sweaty and exhausted. To a chorus of desperate meowing from the bathroom, I release my predators. They dart and search for their latest toy. Once they realize it’s gone, they make it known that they really, REALLY need to go back outside. I can’t be mad at them as it is their nature to hunt, but no field trip today. This has happened three times. I just pray it is not the same bird. Worse than sparrow flutter is Atrial Flutter. Atrial Fibrillation sounds like Tinkerbell flight, children laughing, bumble bee’s wings, a feeling of unexpected joy. But Atrial Flutter is a common abnormal heart rhythm that starts on the atrial chambers of a racing heart. My husband has Atrial Flutter. The danger is blood can pool and lead to clots that can break off and produce a stroke. Both of his parents died of strokes in their 80s and 90s. Dan is 58. He has undergone three catheter ablations. Three times, doctors inserted a catheter through a vein in his groin and sent it up to the heart. It interrupts the electrical circuit causing the flutter and creates a small burn and scar. Dan has been shocked seven times to get his heart in rhythm. I have yet to see it, but he tells me he has a scar the size of a coffee can on his chest from these procedures. I have not asked how big a coffee can. 📸Elizabeth’s