PinnedHow to write at a writing residencyDon’t Talk to the other writers about how they are also not writing but see their printed pages and discuss their book contracts Order a pair of expensive walking shoes Check for the package every few hours and see that one of the other writers has also ordered a pair…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Jul 9, 2020Member-onlyFerrywritten after Mary Ruefle’s MONUMENT A small world had ended. Like all worlds, it was made of time. The Canadian-American border stood between us would never vanish. I had moved to the island because you were there. I had flown back and forth, and you had been still. And now…Nonfiction4 min readNonfiction4 min read
Published inHuman Parts·Mar 27, 2020Member-onlyQuarantine Helped Me Confront My Fear of Hair LossNow, I see my former trauma as an opportunity for growth — For five years I’ve kept the bones of an essay about having alopecia on my desktop. That essay begins by telling the reader about the first time someone pointed out a bald spot on my head. It was Josh Pfolhs — the most popular boy in the fifth grade —…Nonfiction7 min readNonfiction7 min read
Published inHuman Parts·Jul 13, 2019Member-onlyMy Pointer FingerAll the parts of me count for something, are useful for something — It found my mother’s face first, when my pointer finger was more hand than finger, more foreign connection than mine. It was probably the one on my right hand. I don’t know the first time I pointed it at anyone, but I know some things it used to trace. …Human Prompt3 min readHuman Prompt3 min read
Published inHuman Parts·Mar 19, 2019Member-onlyExcerpts From My Failed Travel NotebookMy summer in Europe was full of remarkable moments — but I forgot to write any of them down — On a Tuesday in March of 2013, hidden in the back room of the Washington, D.C. elementary school library where I worked, I felt myself giving up. On my choice of career and on myself. I was unhappy in the way people in their mid-twenties often are. I felt certain…Travel12 min readTravel12 min read
Nov 7, 2018Member-onlyOn Men and PestsI can’t stop thinking about how I killed the crickets — This piece was was originally written and read for an event hosted by Zan and Andy Romanoff in Los Angeles. The themes of the evening were daughterhood, fatherhood, and the patriarchy. The day Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court I left my apartment and there were two dead…Nonfiction4 min readNonfiction4 min read
Apr 7, 2018JackpotBike courier, dope peddler, and full-time hedonist — Featherhead had it made. Until his roommate threatened the president. This story was originally published for Washington City Paper on March 21, 1997. My uncle wrote it under his bike courier nickname, Featherhead. In prison he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and…Non Fiction25 min readNon Fiction25 min read
Feb 23, 2018Member-onlyOn Guns in SchoolsI was a school librarian in a DC public elementary school for six and a half years until I resigned in January of this year. On October 17, 2017, we thought we had an active shooter in our building and went into a frenzied lockdown. …Guns4 min readGuns4 min read
Published inAmerican West·Nov 8, 2017Member-onlyNever Even AskedThere is a road in Taos, New Mexico called Blueberry Hill. If you take it for about a quarter mile from Lower Las Colonias Road it will give way to dirt side roads. If you make a left onto one, you will find a row of five adobe dome houses…Travel5 min readTravel5 min read
Published inHuman Parts·Sep 10, 2017Member-onlyAutumn is the hardest seasonI moved to Washington, DC on June 1, 2011. A day later I started working at a restaurant where I worked every single day of that first summer. I made my first two DC friends there: Anna and Sam. Anna was younger than me by several years and a student…Creative Non Fiction7 min readCreative Non Fiction7 min read
