
Astros fans, I feel your grief, your heartache, your shock. I’ve listened to the countless sports radio “ifs” and “should haves” from armchair quarterbacks trying to make sense of the gut-twisting World Series Game 7 loss. There just has to be some explanation, someone to…

I Love This Game “Lakers lost! This SUCKS!!!!!!” -diary entry, June 12, 1984 I was thirteen years old. My handwriting in red marker matched my anger about the NBA Finals Game 7 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. My first record of…

Dance Salad Festival Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall March 29-31, 2018 It’s at least an eight-course, three-hour long meal, three days in a row. It’s the satiating Salad served up right before Easter Sunday dinner. It’s Dance Salad Festival. And it’s delicious….

I imagine it was late one evening last October when Jeff Bezos in comfy pajamas, whisky in hand, stood at his kitchen island. Just one more quick look. He opened his laptop, logged into aHarmony, eager to see any new emails. Hm, Houston. He scanned…

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. It was a rare frigid and…

October Men When will I ever get this chance again? Each time I refreshed the screen to see StubHub’s supply of remaining single tickets, it was the same wrestle – cost vs. opportunity. The chance to see another playoff game, to watch the best pitchers…

“I like the way they look in those long pants.” It was the last remark I expected from the much older woman next to me, but maybe the few sips from her husband’s beer were doing the talking. Closing pitcher Ken Giles entered the game…

Thursday, February 16, 2017 The Golden State embraced me while I waited for the rental car bus. With palm trees and abundant sunshine and February’s crisp air, it was always a ruby-red-slippers moment when landing at LAX. The forecast showed rain during my four-day, solo…

Photo Credit: Matt Gorrek Is that why we live here? So you can walk one block to get a bagel? I knew my boyfriend in New York City was right. It was common sense, good financial future planning. The rent for our 600-square foot studio…

The light turned green but I was still digesting the words. I turned left on Texas Street and circled the block. My old assistant in New York City laughed when I gave her my new address. “Texas Street in Texas?” she ribbed. I told her…
Born and raised in Houston, Amy moved from the Lone Star State as a young adult and wandered through New Jersey and Pennsylvania before adopting a New York state of mind. She returned to Houston after fifteen years and is still clicking her red heels wondering where is home?
Table for One is her search to find out is home where the heart is? Is there no place like home? Is home a sweet home? Or are all these cities just moveable feasts, homes away from home? She wonders if she can rediscover, reconnect with Houston, maybe stay awhile, sit down and make herself at home at a table for one, see if she says “y’all” more often.
Amy Pearl is a writer and nonprofit arts administrator. She currently is managing director of Hope Stone, Inc., a non-profit arts organization in Houston. She previously worked in New York City as a special events director for City Parks Foundation and the prestigious performing arts center New York City Center after graduating from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts with a degree in modern dance performance and a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Pennsylvania.
You can connect with Amy by following her Facebook Page here.