By U.S. State
By Country
Embodiment, Alps, and Motherhood
by Rae House | Nov 29, 2019 | Placeless
I can attest to the fact that being more is better.
Learning to Walk
by Jon Gorter | Nov 28, 2019 | Placeless
Walking, he suggests, is fundamental to who we are.
Decade-end Wonder
by Brad Zwiers | Nov 27, 2019 | Placeless
While I can’t stop reading these lists or listening to decade-end podcasts, I’m not so sure music should be categorized or ranked this way.
Frozen, Again
by Annaka Koster | Nov 26, 2019 | Michigan
Like so many great dynasties before it, Disney’s empire is built on a chorus of tiny voices.
Holiday Fluff
by Katie Van Zanen | Nov 25, 2019 | Placeless
It’s hardly the holidays without it.
On the Way
by Leigh Peterson | Nov 24, 2019 | Detroit, Michigan
Days like these, I can’t follow a podcast, and music sounds too loud, the tempo much faster than I remembered, the lyrics and storytelling much less compelling.
(How I Learned) The Language of Taste
by Alex Westenbroek | Nov 23, 2019 | Placeless
Then he gave me a straw and told me to taste it. He drew a line with his finger up the side of his cheek, towards his ear.
Ban More Books! The Peril of the Unexamined Shelf
by Emily Joy Stroble | Nov 22, 2019 | Placeless
Making all good books permissible has the same ironically virtue-dulling effect as safe, didactic stories.
The Villainization of Effeminacy in Classic Gay Literature (or My Literary Squad)
by Gabe Gunnink | Nov 20, 2019 | Placeless
I think that there are plenty of things within the gay community that deserve to be challenged and criticized; I just wish that my precious protagonists didn’t conflate these flaws with effeminacy.
Pokémon, Ranked
by Mary Margaret Healy | Nov 19, 2019 | Placeless
What culture doesn’t have a myth of a turtle who keeps the world, or at least a small forest, on its back.
Headshot
by Ben DeVries | Nov 18, 2019 | Placeless
Much as I enjoy teaching novels and short stories, video games do something special when played with a group.
Pros and Cons
by Laura Sheppard Song | Nov 17, 2019 | Canada, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wisconsin
That’s a heavy con for Madison (Pros: Government job benefits, Roommate Night with my best friends, a church that has become home, cheese).
Ne Carpamus Diem
by Kyric Koning | Nov 16, 2019 | Placeless
Giving up the control, allowing our grasping hands to slacken is scary. We don’t know what to do if we do nothing. Yet life goes on.
Read Your Food: Beyond Recipes
by Courtney Zonnefeld | Nov 15, 2019 | Placeless
With every bite of these foods, we eat our history, and we inherit the ingenuity of immigrants, slaves, presidents, and chili queens who crafted the foods we love today.
The World Got Bigger
by Will Montei | Nov 14, 2019 | Placeless
So I let go, and I felt immediately liberated from the burden of trying and failing to imagine a loving God in the day-to-day.
Fear Factor
by Olivia Harre | Nov 13, 2019 | Grand Rapids, Tennessee
I mean honestly, I cried the entire eight-hour car ride to college (shout out to my parents who kept driving).
Musicprayer
by Abby Zwart | Nov 12, 2019 | Grand Rapids
That’s a lot of lead up, I know. But, like, welcome to my head I guess.
Life After the Second Year
by Matt Cambridge | Nov 11, 2019 | Grand Rapids, Hungary, Michigan, Missouri
What if we chose to invest like we’ll be here for ten years or more, and that investment became a reality?
The Realest Fake World
by Jordan Petersen Kamp | Nov 10, 2019 | Placeless
They set out to design a game that recognized the freedom and thrill that made skateboarding unique.
15 Years of National Treasure
by Gwyneth Findlay | Nov 9, 2019 | Placeless
Nine writers spent five years lovingly crafting this seamless plot, which doesn’t care about questions like “What kind of password is ‘Valley Forge’ for a high security government facility?”
Why Sabbath Is Anti-Capitalist
by Josh Parks | Nov 8, 2019 | Placeless
On the seventh day, God rested. He’d had a big week—you know how it goes.
New York City Marathon
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Nov 7, 2019 | New York
It’s almost enough to make you want to give up, walking home with grocery bags almost ripping.
The Best In Lustful Activities
by Josh deLacy | Nov 6, 2019 | Placeless
Set your libido level to maximum!
The Eye of the Whale
by Alex Johnson | Nov 5, 2019 | Placeless
I began to cry at my kitchen table because despite all the bad calls I have made in the heat of the moment and the angry kids and my disappointment in myself and my frustration at the brokenness of an education system that underserves the students who need the support the most, I saw again that there was someone out there who was rooting for me.
Am I a Gringa?
by Comfort Sampong | Nov 4, 2019 | Honduras
Even when I do speak in accented Spanish, Hondurans often assume I’m from a Honduran afro-indigenous community.
Mending Fence
by Ansley Kelly | Nov 3, 2019 | Placeless
This October sabbatical, as I am calling it, is not what I would have chosen.
Hey It’s Pomplamoose (& Patreon)
by Cotter Koopman | Nov 2, 2019 | Placeless
As this year ends, so does the decade, and summarizers and list-makers are compelled by narratives and retrospectives, trying to explain away what’s changed.
The Joy of Good Enough
by Katerina Parsons | Nov 1, 2019 | Placeless
Satisficing doesn’t mean you lack standards. It just means you’re realistic about those standards.
Every Square Inch
by Yolanda Chow | Oct 31, 2019 | Placeless
We may not use the same words—God, Jesus, Christ, Brahman, Light, Love?—but language could never be truly sufficient to describe the indescribable anyway.
The Unintended Outcome
by Anna Lindner | Oct 31, 2019 | Grand Rapids
When my parents brought up college during my junior year of high school, I delivered this zinger: “What’s more important, college or God?”
