Further reading: Best of 2023, Part One: Writers’ Picks, Best of 2023, Part Two: Editors’ Picks
How can you do justice to ten years of people’s lives?
Abby Zwart and Josh deLacy and Will Montei started this website back in July 2013, an event that we’ve been celebrating through looking to the future with new art and coming back to our roots in bringing back old writers. Typically, these Best of posts (which started technically in 2015 but in earnest in 2016) are contained to a single year, but in the spirit of New Years and in light of the decade of posts on the post calvin we wanted to look back not only at 2023 but also all the way back to 2013.
A core foundation of the post calvin is the freedom of what to write about: other than theme months, posts run the gambit from intensely personal to media reviews to takes on current events. This diversity is refreshing, never knowing what you’re going to get the next day and finding unexpected gems in the archives, but it makes summing ten years a little difficult!
Annaka, Josh, and I went around, trying to decide what would best sum up the life on this website (ChatGPT was ultimately unhelpful—naming nonexistent posts, though surprisingly attaching some actual writers). In the end, we decided on a smorgasbord: looking at the posts that have objectively garnered many page views and posts that you all have submitted as your “best of tpc.” This list provides a peek into the pieces that have stood the test of time (or of SEO practices).
Audience Best of tpc History
List is sorted by year
Are You Living Aboard as Authentically as I Am? | Katerina Parsons (2016)
Text START for Help | Abby Zwart (2016)
Fiercely | Will Montei (2016)
A Prayer for the Twenty-Somethings | Meg Schmidt (2018)
Sex Ed Thank You Notes | Paula Manni (2018)
The Way I Came | Gabe Gunnink (2019)
Drink the Wine, Burn the Candle | Ansley Kelly (2020)
Does It Matter? | Katie Van Zanen (2020)
My Mom’s Kitchen | Olivia Harre (2020)
Memorial Day | Annaka Koster (2020)
When One Tomb Closes, Another One Opens | Finnely King-Scoular (2021)
Between Me and God | Laura Sheppard Song (2021)
The Single Talk | Courtney Zonnefeld (2022)
Costco Wedding Rings | Gabrielle Eisma (2023)
On Change | Cassie Westrate (2023)
A Candle’s Flame | Isaac DeBoer (2023)
On This Day in 1921 | Natasha (Strydhorst) Unsworth (2023)
Ode to the Atlanta Driver | Kate DeHaan (2023)
To All My Students, Past or Present | Susannah Boersma (2023)
Top Posts in tpc History
A Definitive Ranking of Chopped Judges | Paul Menn (2017)
If it Feels Cult-y, It Might Be a Cult | Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak (2020)
Type II Fun | Ansley Kelly (2023)
Welcome to the 1-800-HEAVEN Hotline | Ben Rietema (2017)
A Comprehensive Tier List of the Starbucks Menu | Philip Rienstra (2023)
On a Roll…Or a Hero | Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak (2015)
Cannibal of GR | Bart Tocci (2016)
Pondering Punctuation, from Least to Most Delightful | Courtney Zonnefeld (2020)
Ten Incredibly Specific, Fake Phobias that I 100% Have | Annaka Koster (2020)
Thank You, Neland Avenue | Katie Van Zanen (2022)
The Andy Griffith Show | Ansley Kelly (2023)
The Ethics of Iron Farming | Gwyneth Findlay (2020)
Stereogram | Geneva Langeland (2016)
Anarcha | Meg Schmidt (2017)
Thank you for reading the post calvin, whether you started this year or have been here from the beginning. We’re looking forward to the future.
Did we miss one of your favorite posts? Feel free to put some recommendations in the comments.
Alex Johnson (‘19) is a high school English teacher in Massachusetts. She spends her days being an uncool adult who enjoys reading romance novels and explaining niche rhythm game strategies.
