can be bus rides, gritty sidewalks,
electric bills, dishwashing,
chapped lips, dull stubby pencils
with the erasers chewed off,
cheap radios played too loud,
the rank smell of stale coffee
yet still glow
with the inner fire of an opal,
still taste like honey.

~ Julie Alger

Julie Alger was a freelance writer and editor who died of breast cancer at the age of 67, in 1994.  At the time of her death, she had been planning on finishing a novel.  Throughout her career, Julie sat on a vast number of literary committees and was the Office Manager of the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center Programming Office.  She resided in Amherst, Massachusetts and it is said that Julie loved living in “Emily Dickinson's town”.

Interestingly, a website created in her memory received more than 4 million visitors from 88 countries within a five-year span.  To see the site, click here.