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Jessica Minier

I am a creative writer, educator, journalist, content writer, and technical writer. I create thoughtful, beautiful, and important content to move my readers.

Novel •

Novel: Sugar Magnolia Excerpt

From the sidewalk, the first thing she noticed about the house on Tennessee Avenue was the string of prayer flags hanging from an enormous magnolia in the front, shredded and shivering in the breeze rising up from the bay. Not quite ready to send anyone’s prayers up to heaven, but pretty close. The second thing was the big white bus parked in the driveway. Music spilled out from its open door, tumbling down the unshaded driveway, bright as water in a riverbed. The third thing Melinda saw was a young man sitting on the front steps in a pair of cut-offs, his hair the color of the sunlit magnolia bark, clutching a pottery mug and smoking a joint...
ParentMap Magazine •

Talking to Kids About Rape and Sexual Assault

“Mom, what does rape mean?”

There are few aspects of parenting more universally terrifying than talking to kids about sex. Most parents tackle this topic gradually, trying to keep the discussion positive, informative and age-appropriate. However, it has become almost impossible to shelter our children, especially once they can read and are exposed to social media, from accounts of rape and sexual assault. As difficult as it is to talk about rape and sexual assault, it’s a critically important s...
rideblog •

Vintage Bike Buying Guide: 3-Speeds!

Why Buy a 3-Speed?
I know, there are bikes out there with lots of speeds. You’ve seen them in the store… 21-speeds, you thought… I could ride up any hill with twenty-one different gears! It’s true that owning a 3-speed is a different experience than owning a bike with dozens of gears. But I’m here to preach it: three speeds is all you need!
Most of the time, of course. For most people, riding a 3-speed isn’t about going thirty miles an hour, riding a hundred miles, or climbing up the French Alps...
ParentMap Magazine •

Building His Own World: Why I Try Not to Help My Child Solve His Problems

It was Friday afternoon.
My classes were over, my students’ papers were graded, and the other teachers had left the building faster than Elvis. Just as I was shoving my laptop into my bag, I heard a knock on my office door. It was Dan’s mother, and she was not happy.
She wanted to know why I gave Dan a C+ on his English paper. As I reassured her that Dan could, and would, rewrite the essay, a familiar thought ran through my head: Where was Dan in all this?
When I was a teacher, few conversations...
ParentMap Magazine •

Heads Up: How to Spot and Avoid Non-Sports Concussions

“Mommy, I don’t feel good. I think I need to go to bed.” My 7-year-old son, Henry, stood in front of me, glassy-eyed and nauseated. Normally, his asking to go to bed half an hour early would have set off alarm bells, but I was sick myself. Figuring he was coming down with whatever I had, I put him to bed. Looking back, I could easily have killed him.
The next morning, I found out Henry had hit his head on the concrete floor of the garage while playing. I rushed him to the pediatrician’s office,...

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