"Okay, so honestly, why are you doing this? Did something bad happen to you?" "What do you mean?" "Well, usually that's why people do things like this, they are running away." "Why do you go camping, Stan? Did something bad happen to you?" "No." "Exactly." "But like, you don't even come from a place that …
Ugly Beautiful
A guy friend in college once told me I could be hot if I tried. I wasn't offended. I knew what he meant. He meant I had socially-acceptable features that, if I made more of an effort, would be attractive to men. He meant I should wear mascara more often. He meant I should …
where do we go from here?
But I needed to witness someone wrestle With what it means to just exist -Dawes Existing is hard. A pair of lungs, working legs, synapses that fire and illuminate, you’d think the biology of it all would be the difficult part of it. But often it’s not. I’ve had a lot of what happens next …
paris is burning (but what isn’t?)
“I get it now; I didn’t get it then. That life is about losing and about doing it as gracefully as possible…and enjoying everything in between.” -Mia Farrow Notre Dame was ablaze yesterday, the cathedral spires crowned in smoke like an unholy halo. People reacted as they normally do in moments of erasure--photos, prayers, …
9 Things I Learned Working at a Gear Store
You don't really need all that stuff. From my perspective, gear store shoppers fall into three categories: dirtbags, stablizers, and over-the-mooners. I myself am a dirtbag. I am thrifty. I stretch my money and my gear as far as it will go. Duct tape for patches? You betcha. Breathable layers purchased at secondhand stores? Oooh …
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Almost
Winter is over. Almost. Just barely. Light lingers. Ice cracks. Buds on your parents' magnolia have emerged, green and fuzzy. when the world is puddle-wonderful, e.e.cummings once wrote. The world is slowly turning puddle-wonderful. You've tapped into your animal nature these past two winters, your mind and body yielding to the gray winter days. Hibernation involves …
Dear Reusable WinCo Bag,
Dear Resuable WinCo Bag, I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge our one-year anniversary. To be honest, I forgot. I didn't forget about you--of course not! How rude. How unforgivable--but I forgot that our adventuring had stretched beyond the shortened measuring stick, that weeks and months were a paltry time reference and that our relationship could be …
Government? Closed. Parks? Open.
Reading the news is a small daily horror. We are currently in the longest government shutdown of the modern era, and people and places are suffering. The institutions we have built this country upon are failing us. The national parks are staying open despite being understaffed and unable to handle the influx of visitors. Restroom …
Ohio on Fire
Forget what they say the year started in March when a girl offered you a cigarette leaning against her blue beater. The match was lit. Still you stayed. Did you know fingers can smell of cigarettes? Fingers that point and pluck and love perfumed with a past no memory of you. You're not sure how …
Remember Me
"There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years?" ― Dan Chaon, Among the Missing You exist in the minds of others. You exist in twisted and …
People in Parks 