In no particular order: 1. Battleborn, Claire Vaye WatkinsThis is probably the best short story collection I've ever read, and perhaps one of my all-time favorite books. If you've ever driven out west, specifically the southwest, then you know what this book is about---those small towns situated in the middle of a vast and empty …
self as a series of refracting mirrors
I'm so unfinished. --Sufjan Stevens I started a new job recently. So what's your story? Why are you here? A coworker asked me. I hesitated. What is my story? Why *am* I here? I didn't know what to include, what elements of my life convey the realest parts of me. My interests? My jobs? My …
10 Years
“We didn’t matter, the consequences didn’t matter; the moment when we agreed to put our love into action did. It was not an act of courage. It was a statement of belief that the world can change if we are willing to risk our own change first.” ---Terry Tempest Williams This past winter was my …
once more
Same Adirondack campsite, three different memories. I It is the final evening of our summer training hike. The previous night, we were deep in the Upper Works wilderness, camped out at a lean-to where we'd made too much fiesta rice and had to backpack it all out. It had drizzled the whole evening and because …
spikes&soft places
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. …
To Chingachgook
Once upon a time, I worked at a camp called Chingachgook. It was a sprawling camp nestled in the southern Adirondacks with a 32.6 mile lake at one end and a 2,631-foot mountain at the other. It was home to squirrels and owls and eastern newts. It was home to dozens of staff members, their …
Self-Portrait at 27
This is your first summer not out in the sun, and it is hard. This time last year, you were paddling a canoe up in Canada. And the year before that, you were watching the tide crash on Cape Cod. And the year before that, you were backpacking through the Adirondacks and finalizing your road …
to be alone
"There are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it's too late and there's nothing worse than too late." ---Charles Bukowski to be alone to be alone (with you) to be alone It was Friday night, and my friends and I were …
the art of looking
“In a world myriad as ours, the gaze is a singular act: to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly.” –Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous Taxonomy is the "orderly classification of plants and animals." Meaning this is an orchid, this is a lupine, they are …
nothing ever ends as you think it will
If I'm a slut for anything, it's closure. I will do backbends, somersaults, aerial pirouettes (unsure if that's a thing) to ensure I get the ending that feels right. I want the memories gift wrapped and then safely shelved away, everything neat and easily retrievable. I want resolution like a knife sliding effortlessly through a …
People in Parks 