Archives | the post calvin

You Become. It Takes a Long Time.

by Ansley Kelly | Jan 3, 2024 | Placeless

Just kidding! I can’t do any of the things I thought I could.

Here’s to My Annual Tin of Peanuts

by Christina Ribbens | Jan 2, 2024 | Virginia

Maybe it was a Five Guys thing where you could have a snack while waiting for your food and throw the shells wherever you liked with the authority and abandon of a Tudor monarch.

Who Am I?

by Sam Tuit | Jan 1, 2024 | Placeless

How do you sum up all the complexity of a human being in a medium as limited as words?

Best of 2023, Part Three: Best in tpc History

by Alex Johnson | Dec 31, 2023 | Placeless

These pieces have stood the test of time (or of SEO practices).

Best of 2023, Part Two: Editors’ Picks

by Josh Parks | Dec 30, 2023 | Placeless

The best posts are the ones that remind us why this place keeps going.

Best of 2023, Part One: Writers’ Picks

by Annaka Koster | Dec 29, 2023 | Placeless

What did they make in the last twelve months that sparked something—grief, pride, thought, joy, a last-minute panic because oh crap it’s my day to post something tomorrow?

My Big Year of Not Birding

by Jon Gorter | Dec 28, 2023 | Germany, North Carolina

If they heard an unusual call, birders may even backtrack those ten steps of progress and bring you back to the parking lot where you began.

Even More Festive Erotica with Your Favorite Librarian

by Annaka Koster | Dec 26, 2023 | Placeless

At least in the epilogue she really sticks it to him by making him dress up in a Santa suit at the Christmas party she goes to with all of the other kidnapped women and their abductors/lovers.

Merry Christmas from Florida

by Natasha (Strydhorst) Unsworth | Dec 25, 2023 | Florida

The fronds always put me more in mind of Easter.

The Last Christmas Tradition Standing

by Joshua Polanski | Dec 24, 2023 | Placeless

The Christmas of my youth is dead. That’s just adulthood, I suppose.

Pickled Onions, Brown Mustard, and Changing Tastes

by Mitchell Barbee | Dec 23, 2023 | Placeless

One day, I tried getting to the bottom of why I liked Qdoba so much more than Chipotle. After going through my order with my girlfriend item by item, we figured it out.

Confronting Mortality with a Gray Cat

by Kate DeHaan | Dec 22, 2023 | Placeless

Even though I needed him to save me, I know he needed me to save him.

Sad Christmas Songs Hit Different in the Dark

by Emily Joy Stroble | Dec 21, 2023 | Placeless

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” is consistently (ironically) slept on in favor of the worn, saccharine “Silent Night.”

First Snow

by Parker Yeo | Dec 20, 2023 | Chicago

Snowballs were thrown, hands were frozen, and hearts were full as I enjoyed my first real snowfall.

Lord, Keep Me at Arm’s Length

by Hannah McNulty | Dec 19, 2023 | Placeless

It didn’t help that the church could encourage the kind of thinking I battled, with sermons calling you to assess your naturally selfish heart and take hold of your mind with the iron grip of Christ until you’ve molded it into a humble servant of God.

I Am Brendan Fraser

by Isaac DeBoer | Dec 18, 2023 | Placeless

I know it’s open-hearted and on the goofy side, but so am I and so is Brendan Fraser.

A Mary Oliver Winter

by Carlisle Patete | Dec 17, 2023 | Chicago

“Do you have a rolling pin?” I ask her. “No, but I have a wine bottle that’ll do the trick,” she replies.

Presents Politics

by Tiffany Kajiwara | Dec 16, 2023 | Placeless

I had to hype myself up to buy a pack of three dollar udon at the grocery store—I certainly can’t afford the forty dollar Roblox gift cards.

The First Games of the Hallmark Olympiad

by Courtney Zonnefeld | Dec 15, 2023 | Placeless

When her paper (which has a surprising travel budget) assigns her to cover the rival’s return to the rink, Halle heads off to Christmas, Canada, ready for revenge.

Old Podcasts

by Noah Keene | Dec 14, 2023 | Placeless

On Christmas of 2015, only the snobbiest of film snobs knew who Harvey Weinstein was, and President Donald Trump was a punchline.

Santa’s Pub

by Olivia Harre | Dec 13, 2023 | Tennessee

At almost every song choice, someone is yelling “THIS IS A GREAT SONG!!!”

Schlepping

by Jack Kamps | Dec 12, 2023 | New Jersey

But there’s something hopeful about preparing soil in October and November for late-fall planting, measuring the spacing, carving divots, and pushing the individual cloves a few inches under the soil, and waiting.

Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Fish

by Gabrielle Eisma | Dec 11, 2023 | Placeless

Half-frozen with no bird or angel declaring it as special and life-changing or even still alive.

Five Awesome Games I Played This Year

by Philip Rienstra | Dec 10, 2023 | Placeless

I decided to give it another try, despite my initial disappointment (misplaced, I think).

Have you thought about Palestine today?

by Gwyneth Findlay | Dec 9, 2023 | Palestine

As I’m writing, the update page is subtitled “Israeli forces bomb Gaza from north to south”; a day later, “Six Palestinians killed in West Bank raids by Israel.”