The Truth about Szerykl

Michael Downs and Sheri Venema normally live in Baltimore, Maryland. But through June 2022, they will live in Kraków, Poland, where Michael is a Fulbright Scholar.      Here in this blog, they will share the adventures of Szerykl (she, her), the intrepid American rabbit who accompanied them. Szerykl (pronounced Shericle) came along in their luggage as a gift from their nine-year-old neighbor, who bestowed the name as a combination of Sheri and Michael, who supplied the Polish spelling.      Michael is the author of three books, most recently The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist. Michael's work has been recognized through awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, among others. He is affiliated with Gotham Ghostwriters. Primarily, he directs the graduate program in professional writing at Towson University.     Sheri is a journalist and former journalism educator who has worked for newspapers in Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland and Arkansas. She has taught journalism at the University of Montana and Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.      Her freelance writing has appeared in the Washington Post. Her essays have been published in Coal Hill Review, American Writers Review, Baltimore Style and Baltimore Fishbowl.