By U.S. State
By Country
The Art of Pardoning Turkeys
by Griffin Jackson | Nov 26, 2014 | Placeless
In 2004, the president’s main turkey was named Biscuits. Its backup—because even turkeys get understudies—was named Gravy. The following year they were named Marshmallow and Yam.
Beyond Imagination and Control
by Greg Kim | Nov 25, 2014 | Korea
As I’m forced to reconsider the value of these objects, especially my books, I’ve noticed that I tend to place more value on familiar things, precisely because I think I can exercise control over them.
Strange Enough
by Michael Kelly | Nov 23, 2014 | Placeless
This wasn’t the first time that this had happened to me. During my second year of college, a friend from high school that I hadn’t spoken to in two years sent me a Facebook message: “hey.”
Why I Am Going on Strike
by Robert Zandstra | Nov 22, 2014 | Oregon
Our struggle is against the authorities who misuse and abuse their power. Our struggle is against the evil that enslaves the world and is manifested in the actions of the University administration.
The Definitive Board Game Primer
by Andrew Orlebeke | Nov 21, 2014 | Placeless
Brooklyn hipsters wearing glasses with no lenses gathered around driftwood tables, drinking boxed wine, and settling Catan is not at all a difficult image to summon.
Snowbound
by Gabe Gunnink | Nov 20, 2014 | Grand Rapids
But the snow does not fall only on the ill-prepared. It falls on 4.0 students, kids flunking every class, and overwhelmed first-year teachers alike.
The Bad Mother
by Mary Margaret Healy | Nov 19, 2014 | Placeless
I think if Tangled had existed when I was a child, I might not have even known to be scared of Mother Gothel. But Gothel is the kind of villain who haunts my nightmares now.
A Letter To My GPS
by Matt & Laura Hubers | Nov 18, 2014 | Placeless
And in my rising, I have come up with a solution. Jellybeans. I will follow your stupid navigation decisions to the letter if you will spit out jellybeans for every correct turn.
A2
by Geneva Langeland | Nov 17, 2014 | Ann Arbor
The past three months have swirled by in a flurry of skimmed articles, just-caught buses, and discussions over falafel and hummus about the drawbacks of capitalism.
Searching Serially
by Andrew Knot | Nov 16, 2014 | Placeless
In an essay for The Awl, Jay Caspian Kang calls the podcast “an experiment in two old forms: the weekly radio crime show, and the confessional true-crime narrative.”
Hand Turkeys
by Cassie Westrate | Nov 15, 2014 | Placeless
Thanksgiving should not come from comparing what we have ticked off on our fingers to what our neighbors do. Thanksgiving should be an actual experience of gratitude.
Restless
by Will Montei | Nov 14, 2014 | Washington
Those old haunts the heart still goes to—even daily comforts brought me to them. That all might not seem like much. It isn’t much. But my heart is still a broken thing. My odd heart.
Another Woman’s Moccasins
by Catherine Kramer | Nov 13, 2014 | Pennsylvania
If my fiancé decides to change his name, I want to make t-shirts that say WE ARE THE KRAMERS just to spite anyone who thinks this is not an option.
Wild and Free
by Abby Zwart | Nov 12, 2014 | Grand Rapids, Washington
A serving of oatmeal eaten straight out of the brown paper package gets a five out of ten stars when eaten in my kitchen, but eleventy-twelve stars when eaten atop a mountain.
Toilets, an Autoethnography
by Elaine Schnabel | Nov 11, 2014 | Grand Rapids, Indiana, Spain
My fondness for toilets began in first grade when I staged a protest in the Jackson Elementary School girls’ bathroom. I objected to recess, of all things.
Hospitality
by Katie Van Zanen | Nov 10, 2014 | Egypt
And if someone asks you what you’d like to drink, “nothing” is not an acceptable answer. If you say this, you will still get tea. Probably with three spoonfuls of sugar.
You Are A Tourist
by Bart Tocci | Nov 9, 2014 | Placeless
He was there alone for about fifteen seconds, eyes closed, loving every moment. Those seconds were an eternity. A mop-headed kid in a big t-shirt ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder.
My Recurring Nightmare
by Paul Menn | Nov 8, 2014 | Placeless
My recurring nightmare is this—I am back in high school. Cliché, I know, but every couple of months, I dream that I am my current age yet forced to go back to high school.
Getting Middle Schoolers to Do What They Should Be Doing: Four Methods
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Nov 7, 2014 | Placeless
I really cannot comprehend why it has to be this way. I can’t believe I wake up every morning and have to come here and deal with this. I can’t believe I stay up late into the night preparing a fun and interesting lesson and THIS is how you treat me! You should be ashamed!
The Pre-Exodus Project
by Josh deLacy | Nov 6, 2014 | Washington
I discovered the other side of recorded music. The side we didn’t talk about in Professor Nordling’s class, and the side that makes recorded music even more challenging, I think, than live music.
What’s In A Name?
by Alissa Anderson | Nov 5, 2014 | Indiana, New York
You can hyphenate your last name and your husband’s last name. You can take two last names. You can combine your last names into a new last name (for real, people do this).
A Shoreside Reverie
by Ben Rietema | Nov 4, 2014 | New Zealand
Later, I was absentmindedly stirring my carbohydrate poverty (linguini) and gazing into the depths of slowly revolving noodles, lost in the translucent swirling. Then a voice startled me out of my reflections.
Another Thing Not On My Résumé
by Sabrina Lee | Nov 3, 2014 | Placeless
Ok, ok. I know what you’re thinking: It was a fly, Sabrina. It was something that hangs around poo and contaminates your food and is just generally a nuisance. You did humanity a service.
Making Gone Girl Go
by Jacob Schepers | Nov 2, 2014 | Placeless
Presenting the best version of ourselves becomes loaded with pretense, as if our first impressions lock in our identities throughout the duration of a relationship.
How To Eat A Chicken
by Amy (Allen) Frieson | Nov 1, 2014 | Placeless
And then, when we had some friends over for a spaghetti and meatballs dinner party, I did it: I ate a meatball. And I didn’t die. And it tasted really, really good.
Halloween
by Abby Zwart | Oct 31, 2014 | Placeless
One year I was Santa Claus. That worked pretty well. But then the next year I couldn’t think of anything, so I just went as Mrs. Claus. People still thought I was Santa.
A Wind
by Abby Zwart | Oct 30, 2014 | Placeless
a wind has blown the rain away and blown / the sky away and all the leaves away, / and the trees stand. I think i too have known / autumn too long
Mighty Deeds
by Debra Rienstra | Oct 29, 2014 | New Jersey
I passed through hallways and doorways and stairwells, amazed at how these old spaces came back to me, the feeling of moving through them. I still find myself here in my dreams occasionally.
Where I Live and What I Eat
by Bekah (Williamson) Medendorp | Oct 28, 2014 | Hungary
I attend graduate school, work as a nanny, and live above a bakery. This is an easy and compact answer to toss, like a Tic-Tac, at the question I too often hear: “So, what are you up to?”
Gone Girl and Protest
by Brad Zwiers | Oct 27, 2014 | Placeless
We have to rail against injustice and doggedly lament evil. We have to mourn and cry out and punch the air and scream that this is not the way things are supposed to be.
