PODCAST- Breakwell, James Breakwell: Bare Minimum Parent Extraordinaire

At last, the parenting advice you never asked for, yet somehow desperately need… Seriously, even if you don’t have kids, you need to listen to this. It’ll make you want to go get some, so you can do your bare minimal best to bring them up in this crazy world. Aside from being LAUGH OUT […]

And now a word on behalf of my Pittsburgh neighbors who are hurting…

Dear Media, Protesters, & Social Media Hashtag Warriors: It is not enough to #standagainsthate. We must love. Even those with whom we disagree. Especially those with whom we disagree. Those who hate us. Those we are tempted to hate. Love the weirdos. Love the Misfits. The ornery. The stubborn. The obnoxious. The annoying. The ones […]

PODCAST- Getting Into the Thick of It, with Jason Cruise

Maybe you’ve seen him on the Sportsman Channel… but today’s he’s here, with us Misfits, which, when you think about it, is its own kind of sporting event… taking our TV dads quiz, giving us the scoop on Lawn Mower parents, and talking about what it means to own your own convictions when it comes […]

PODCAST- Jami Amerine is back! And realer than ever… and that’s a good thing!

If you’ve hung around here enough, or at all, you know we place a high premium on being real. Not like “reality show real”. That’s too scripted. Too produced. Cue the fake drama. No, here, we are all about being our real selves, with all that goes with it. Quirks. Brilliance. And everything in between. […]

PODCAST- A Book about a Bug and a Big, Bad Beast… with Kristen Barnett

We’ve never talked about Bugs here on the Isle… entemologically, technologically or otherwise. But there’s a first time for everything, so here we are. Bring on the Bug Talk! Of course, we’re not really talking about literal bugs. We’re actually talking about cancer. Childhood cancer. And a special book written by children’s author, Kristen Barnett, […]

PODCAST- Misfit Manifesto Part I: Own Your Awkward

Here’s a Fun Fact: We, the Misfits, have been around for a whole year now! Well, at least THIS faction of all the misfits in the land… but yes, 4 whole seasons of Owning Our Awkward, Loving Our Fellow Misfit and Seeking Beauty and Truth in all the weirdness of life… and that, my friends, […]

And the WINNERS are…

As promised, here are the most fortuitous beneficiaries of the KATHLEEN L. MAHER LITERARY SWEEPSTAKES! But first, a random video of my cat in a brief and somewhat rare moment of semi-active jocularity … just because. And now… the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The winner of The Abolitionist’s Daughter is… Caryl Kane […]

The Pittsburgh Left

There’s this thing here where I live, called the Pittsburgh Left. Oh, you’ve never heard of it? Well, let me tell you all about it, friend. It’s this cultural norm among the motorists in the land surrounding the great Steel City, whereby the very considerate driver traveling in the opposite direction from you allows, nay, expects […]

PODCAST- Kathleen L. Maher: Award Winning Author. Historian. Sister. In that order.

I have openly bragged on this very blog before, about being only 2 degrees separated from Kevin Bacon. Feel free to go into the archives and read all about it. But today, my Misfit Friends, we have surpassed the 2 Degrees, and have entered the Next Level of Braggadocious Rights – that being my status […]

A Long, Hard Road, with a Good, Good End

So today’s the two year anniversary of my mother’s funeral. And I thought a good way to commemorate it would be to share the story behind this here picture. If you live in upstate/western New York, you may remember the summer of 2016 had a prolonged drought that went on for many weeks. And it […]