By U.S. State
By Country
Treating the Common Cold
by Alissa Anderson | Jan 5, 2016 | Placeless
Yup, definitely melting my brain. Totally worth it, though—and my cold is almost gone! It’s like they say: television really is the best medicine.
How To Talk To Attractive People (Just Kidding I Have No Idea)
by Ben Rietema | Jan 4, 2016 | Colorado
“So I see you enjoy burritos…” I would say and then stare at my shoes. “ And I observe that you are also wearing… [squinting] shoes… very cool…”
Bookcase
by Sabrina Lee | Jan 3, 2016 | Illinois
As the semesters and years roll along, my library—my store of knowledge—becomes more and more unread, and, in a similar way, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know.
35 Realistic New Year’s Resolutions
by Katerina Parsons | Jan 1, 2016 | Placeless
18. Use sunblock. 19. “Like” friends’ and acquaintances’ engagements on Facebook without texting your sister “I am going to die alone.” 20. Make your bed for once.
Stars, Etc.
by Christy Admiraal | Dec 31, 2015 | Grand Rapids, New York
But there are some things I hold dear that you just can’t get in the greatest city in the world. And that’s where the stars come in.
Undefeated, Unknown
by Jacob Kuyvenhoven | Dec 30, 2015 | Placeless
Maybe my faith will grow strong, strong enough to have the message of Christ’s victory over death ring just as true and feel just as real as the body in the casket.
Human Heliotropes
by Hannah Leisman | Dec 29, 2015 | Placeless
Now we’re approaching New Year’s Eve. This is my favorite holiday, in spite of the fact that every year it disappoints.
Ever-est
by Bekah (Williamson) Medendorp | Dec 28, 2015 | Placeless
We are addicts to magnificence and depravity. If we can’t be the best we will compete to be the worst. If we can’t start the morning with the best cup of coffee, we begin the day with the worst.
Aunt Jackie
by Brad Zwiers | Dec 27, 2015 | Placeless
The litany ends and we sing a few carols. Aunt Jackie sings the loudest and there’s a kind of hope pulling at the corner of her voice that makes you think that everything, all of it, is true.
To Find the Place Where Spirits Romp, Head To White Cloud’s Dungeon Swamp
by Nick Meekhof | Dec 26, 2015 | Michigan
Suddenly, I heard Kevin gasp. We stumbled blindly toward his voice until echolocation led us to a vine-covered mausoleum. The script was crumbling, but the names were unmistakable.
How To Celebrate Christmas Like a Seven-Year-Old
by Ryan Struyk | Dec 25, 2015 | Placeless
This childlike, seven-year-old-style “what if” that we Christians share on this paradigm-shifting day is bigger than a breezy optimism. This is a deep-rooted hope.
A Time for Everything
by Lauren (Boersma) Harris | Dec 24, 2015 | Placeless
Sometimes, I grow tired of people pretending they do know. I grow tired of people claiming the time to kill, the time to give up, the time to throw away.
Childish Happiness
by Michael Kelly | Dec 23, 2015 | Placeless
An emotional massacre is really what I wanted, leaving happiness as the only feeling left standing. It’s what made the most sense at the time, but it doesn’t anymore.
To Catch A Train
by Matt Medendorp | Dec 22, 2015 | Alaska, Chicago, Hungary, Michigan, Slovakia, Switzerland
I took a train every morning in Budapest to a little café called Budapest Bagel: a bar and a bagel shop where I somehow received college credit to write short stories and read novels following a longstanding expatriate tradition.
The Golden Gabe Awards
by Gabe Gunnink | Dec 20, 2015 | Placeless
Tina: Good evening, I’m Tina Fey…
Amy: …and I’m Amy Poehler.
Tina: Welcome everyone to the 26th annual Golden Gabe awards.
Christmas Trauma
by Mary Margaret Healy | Dec 19, 2015 | Placeless
But I have not yet figured out how to be happy in a world that is torn apart every day by war and hate, by hunger and sickness, by itself. I’ve learned this semester that being a social worker necessarily means knowing that there is more fallenness in this world than we can bear.
A Sort of Homecoming
by Ben DeVries | Dec 18, 2015 | Placeless
Recently, my wife and I watched all six Star Wars movies in preparation for The Force Awakens—a feat I hadn’t done in years—and I remember my vaguely alarmed reaction during the credit-crawl for A New Hope.
HONY
by Geneva Langeland | Dec 17, 2015 | New York
Stanton has a massive platform, and he stands on it with poise and humility. In an online world that screeches with hostility and self-aggrandizement, Stanton is the most elusive and vital kind of storyteller.
Playing Squash with Christoph
by Andrew Knot | Dec 16, 2015 | Placeless
After the first time we played, Christoph sent me this video of the Qatar Classic 2015 and said, “Whatever it was that we played last week, it wasn’t squash.”
Letters to God
by Cassie Westrate | Dec 15, 2015 | Placeless
“Can’t you feel that?” Pastor said one Sunday. “Can’t you feel that breeze?” I could. I was pretty sure it was the air conditioning kicking in.
Good Morning, It’s Christmas
by Will Montei | Dec 14, 2015 | Washington
This year I’ll sleep in a guest room, maybe on an air mattress. It will be a normal night of sleep. I won’t be waiting for the rumble of the Polar Express, watching for its headlight to flood the walls of my room in a gold glow.
Out of the Box
by Catherine Kramer | Dec 13, 2015 | Placeless
In a world overwhelmed by possibility, sometimes it sounds really great to have someone else make your choices for you and put them in a neat little box.
Master of None
by Abby Zwart | Dec 12, 2015 | Placeless
Maybe it’s a sign of our times that I was waiting for this genuine and heartwarming scene to turn ironic, but it just didn’t ring true.
Learning to Board Game
by Elaine Schnabel | Dec 11, 2015 | Placeless
Euchre has very little variation. Sentinels of the Multiverse, on the other hand, has somewhere between 14 million to 230 million different game scenarios. That’s cool. Really. But those 230 different scenarios have a price-tag of roughly the same amount of rules.
Untold Stories
by Katie Van Zanen | Dec 10, 2015 | Placeless
It seems odd to speak of the limits of human intimacy when anticipating our reunion; to record for the world the untold stories which are themselves just fragments of a billowing moment already passed away, to promise that I will fail again to share them fully.
Almost Great
by Bart Tocci | Dec 9, 2015 | Chicago, Massachusetts
We like Tony C. because he was good, but we love him because he could have been great. We love him for his potential. We love him because we can imagine what he could have been. 100 home runs by twenty-two? He could have been the best player who ever lived.
Marbury v. Madison (A Dadaist Retelling)
by Paul Menn | Dec 8, 2015 | Placeless
I have never been good at writing poetry. I don’t have the wit to write metaphysical poetry like Donne. I could never capture the sylvan landscape like Frost. What I am good at is doodling.
Stumbling Upon Poetry in Paris
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Dec 7, 2015 | France, New York
I am having a conversation in broken English outside a bar with a man named Matthieu. He brought up the attacks before I did, which is good, because I was terrified to bring it up, and not even sure if I should. “You are from New York, so you understand,” he explained.
This Is A Lie
by Josh deLacy | Dec 6, 2015 | Michigan, North Carolina, Washington
D.A.R.E. to explore the unexplored. Here be monsters and suddenly we’re the first ones, wading through myth and legend and finding freedom, happiness, and warmth. We don’t see dragons or lose our grades. We don’t get pregnant. We aren’t shoving suppositories up our asses à la Trainspotting or whoring à la Requiem for a Dream. It’s just nice. Warm and cozy and soft. One of us uses the word “underwhelming.”
Ode to Advent
by Alissa Anderson | Dec 5, 2015 | Placeless
“I think Advent is my favorite season, but by the time I’ve finished all of the work and grading, Christmas is here and I never really got to enjoy it.”
