Laura B. Hayden

Laura spent her childhood in Brooklyn, NY, and her teens in Enfield, CT, where she went on to teach and freelance for regional publications. She married, raised her daughter and son through her thirties and forties, and was widowed before she turned fifty.Ten years later, she began writing about this loss in a memoir that completed the requirements for an MFA in Writing at Western Connecticut State University in 2010. Her writing can be found on technorati.com. Her print work has appeared in “The Hartford Courant,” “Northeast” magazine, the “Journal Inquirer,” “Connecticut Parent,” “Hartford Woman,” and “Imprint” publications. She is a graduate of the Western Connecticut State University MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program. In 1995 her essay, “Saved by the Belle” took first place in the First Annual Mark Twain Days Essay Contest on American Politics & Government, judged by Russell Baker, Garry Trudeau, and Joyce Chadwick-Joshua. Last year “Nesting,” an essay from her memoir, received an honorable mention from “Connecticut Review,” a journal published by the Connecticut State University system. Laura teaches writing at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, CT.

Articles:

Sandy Hook: As Senseless as it Gets

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is about as senseless as senseless can get. After killing his mother at home, the murderer travels to the school to deliberately target the kindergarten students. There is still a question as to what connection his mother had with the class. The more we hear about this horrific crime, the more incomprehensible it gets. Four trauma units were readied at Danbury hospital. Over 80 staff members waited for an expected high number of injured. Only a handful arrived. Most of the 28 fatalities (mostly children) had died at the scene. This all happened at […]

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Bradbury’s Enduring Voice

It was odd hearing that Ray Bradbury died this month. I was just thinking about him last month. Actually, I mentioned him in a tribute I gave at a close friend’s retirement dinner. As I planned the speech, I had to look up whether or not he was still living – and he was – at the time. I was mentioning Bradbury because my retiring friend still taught his book, Fahrenheit 451, to her sophomore English classes. No one else in the department has taught Bradbury for a very long time. So I thought of him, among others, when I […]

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Writing It Forward After Husband’s Early Death

Thirteen years ago, I read a letter to an editor urging young widows to go for annual physicals. The timing of the piece reminded me of when I first read about the Heimlich Maneuver in 1974, just days after my grandfather choked to death on a bite of meat. My uncle had rushed to Grandpa’s aid, pounding on his back to dislodge the piece of meat – all to no avail. If he had known enough to wrap his arms just above Grandpa’s waist, and pull into his gut, the morsel would have popped out and my grandfather would have […]

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