It is fall, I guess, and none of the leaves are turning color. That's not true. The western sycamores in Big Sur are. The coast live oak whose leaves perpetually carpet camp's trails. The lone sugar maple in Yosemite whose blood heart leaves people drive three, four hours just to see, just to witness. I …
vignettes from a wedding that wasn’t mine
This was my camp setup for the three nights I spent helping/attending wedding stuff. The silliest, honestly. (Picnic table not pictured; that really brought it all together.) I went to a wedding on July 23 for my best friend from college. All of my memories of her are good ones. We were study abroad roommates …
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lip service
Me after my muffler semi fell off in the wilderness and I ditched my car and went hiking anyway My friend's ex girlfriend messaged him the other day, apologizing for how she behaved in their relationship. Like any good friend, he sent me screenshots of the conversation. And, like any good friend, I poured over …
a post in the same style as the notes app on my phone, meaning i never finish a single thought
I haven't written on here much, even though a lot has happened and I have a lot to say. I have 19 drafts on here from throughout the years, all varying shades of completion. I view this blog as a scrapbook, a time collage. If you enjoy it, great, but it's mostly for me. People …
Pilgrimage to Tragedy
Wrote this at a food court in an Iowa mall in 2017 back in my travel writing days. This is one of the review versions, so the editing isn't tight yet, but the good shit's still there. It was originally published in the print edition, Issue 2, of Allegory Ridge. guns, writing sample (1)Download
everything sparkles in nostalgia
I can not adequately describe the chokehold that this guy had on me in my teenage years. Last weekend I finally got around to reading Midnight Sun. If you're unfamiliar, Midnight Sun is the long-awaited addition to the Twilight series, a rewrite of the first Twilight book from the other main character's POV. It came …
the girls that get it, get it
...Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl Mitski is currently on tour, and it's spurred a lot of …
For B.
Graveyard I used to run through all the time in the tiny PA town My first job out of college--minus a short stint at Dunkin--was at Highlights magazine. I was hired as an intern at their editorial offices based in Small Town, PA (why don't I want to say the name? Why does that seem …
it goes on without you
a church in Portugal because why not everything I miss / is a monument / I cannot see through ****** It is midterms and finals week at the school I taught at this past fall. Semester over. New block classes beginning in February, a strange freshness in an otherwise stagnant, gray month. My e-mail account …
nothing ever really ends
Writing one of my students turned in It is another season of goodbye. I packed up my car, gave the sink a final scrub, and headed west through the cornfields. I've wrote about goodbyes a lot on this blog, so here we go again. There is never enough time to see everyone, to visit all …
People in Parks 