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A Journey of Advent
by Olivia Harre | Dec 13, 2018 | Placeless
For months, I have been waiting for news about my dream opportunity. I have held back from any long-term commitments for the sake of a possibility. I have been expectantly been waiting for news—any news.
May
by Abby Zwart | Dec 12, 2018 | Placeless
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are,” Dumbledore says, “far more than our abilities.”
You Have Always Been With Me: Musings from the Heart of an Enneagram 3
by Matt Cambridge | Dec 11, 2018 | Placeless
Enneagram 3, The Achiever: Adaptable, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious.
Matt Cambridge, nice to meet you.
Winter Blessing
by Jenna Griffin | Dec 10, 2018 | Placeless
May you warm your body under thick blankets, your hands by radiators, your feet in old slippers.
Coming Out Ruined Christmas Eve
by Gwyneth Findlay | Dec 9, 2018 | Placeless
I remind myself that no one is watching me, probably. Nobody is passing judgement on Christmas Eve.
Sorry, Goodreads: Rethinking Reading Challenges
by Josh Parks | Dec 8, 2018 | Placeless
I’ve made a list of twenty authors—twelve who wrote after 1900 and eight from the centuries before—whose work I’m going to limit myself to.
I’m Passionate about the Bridges in Taylor Swift Breakup Songs
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Dec 7, 2018 | Placeless
I recently tried to explain heartbreak to someone who has never had their heart broken. It didn’t go well.
Offerings and Exaltations
by Will Montei | Dec 6, 2018 | Placeless
Sadness is that way: temporal. Each encounter comes with a demand singular to the day of its arrival: here is a powerful feeling, attend to it, reconcile its nature with yours.
Politics as Usual…feat. Chance the Rapper
by India Daniels | Dec 5, 2018 | Chicago, Illinois
The word alderman has Anglo-Saxon origins: a noble (serving the king) as ruler of a local district. Quite literally it means “old man.”
Let It Snow
by Caitlin Gent | Dec 4, 2018 | Wisconsin
In other words, despite my litany of previous posts to the contrary, Advent may yet find me sneaking into back-row pews and singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
A Guide to Killing All of Your Plants, Maliciously, During the Christmas Season
by Meg Schmidt | Dec 3, 2018 | Placeless
Notice one morning that your orchid is starting to look strained. Pick up the fallen petals. Water it, but know that this, like a leprous spot, is a sign of the beginning of the end, and that from now on, water will merely prolong the inevitable.
So Here’s A Recital
by Cotter Koopman | Dec 2, 2018 | Placeless
This song has always felt so dumb to me even before its Extreme Makeover Bieber Edition. It’s historical fanfiction undercut by that insufferable “pah rum pah pum pum.”
Questions and Answers about the Migrant Caravan
by Katerina Parsons | Dec 1, 2018 | Honduras
It is not a partisan statement to say that the U.S. immigration system is broken.
The Ups and Downs of Making London My Home
by Helen Groothuis | Nov 30, 2018 | England
If you had told thirteen-year-old Helen that in ten years she would be living in England, let alone London, I think she might have fainted in disbelief.
When We Made Mistakes… We Moved On
by Wentiirim Annankra | Nov 29, 2018 | Placeless
Why did she share her mistakes with us? Wasn’t she afraid how we might perceive her after learning about her mistakes?
Don René
by Matt Coldagelli | Nov 28, 2018 | Grand Rapids, Guatemala, Michigan
He did not use grand showmanship or elaborate displays. He used simple, humble, everyday love.
Coffee With a Shot of Anonymity
by Brad Zwiers | Nov 27, 2018 | Placeless
One morning, after she filled my mug with coffee, and I had paid for the privilege of drinking it, she started a conversation.
Confessions of a Season Purist
by Nick Meekhof | Nov 26, 2018 | Michigan
I’ll admit it’s more of a mindset than a meteorological observation, but if you’re a winter-hater, might it be better in the long run to hang on to fall as long as you can?
Heaven, Like Mario Kart
by Katie Van Zanen | Nov 25, 2018 | Placeless
The trouble was, though, that when I tried to imagine the stream of gold going on forever, my head would begin to thrum.
Quitter
by Leigh Peterson | Nov 24, 2018 | France
It was midnight again, France time, when I sat down for the turkey and mashed potatoes my family had waited to make.
Lend me Your Ears Part II: Podcasts
by Julia LaPlaca | Nov 23, 2018 | Placeless
Oh, and the whole shebang is narrated by a mouse.
One Year
by Sadie Burgher | Nov 22, 2018 | Grand Rapids
“What if we had never met? had broken up in college? were still dating and living apart?” one of us will ask the other.
21 a Space Odyssey: A Few Non-Alcoholic Thoughts on Star Trek Among Other Things
by Emily Joy Stroble | Nov 21, 2018 | Placeless
There are things that should have changed my life, and then there are things that actually did.
The Diary of Millicent Bulstrode
by Gabe Gunnink | Nov 20, 2018 | Placeless
I am a Slytherin. My Patronus is a cat. The reality sunk in like basilisk fangs: I am Millicent Bulstrode.
Timestrokes
by Mary Margaret Healy | Nov 19, 2018 | Texas
And as the saxophonist stood to our applause, I silently thanked Mr. Moore for teaching me the language of time, imbuing this Saturday night with more meaning than it could otherwise have had.
Imagining the End
by Ben DeVries | Nov 18, 2018 | Placeless
What matters here instead is the implicit challenge, the casual middle finger, that the novel tosses off at the rest of the genre.
Other People’s Jokes
by Tony Ditta | Nov 17, 2018 | Placeless
In college, my friend Lauren was describing the physical features that she found attractive about men. She said, “I don’t know, beards are really growing on me.”
18 Steps to Lemon Meringue Pie
by Courtney Zonnefeld | Nov 15, 2018 | Placeless
14. Whip the egg whites until “stiff peaks form,” a description that—even after over ten years of making this recipe—you still can’t confidently identify.
Teaching Revolutionaries
by Will Montei | Nov 14, 2018 | Placeless
“Mr. Montei, who is your favorite rapper?” asked one of my high school freshman students.
On Ketchup and Culture Shock
by Olivia Harre | Nov 13, 2018 | Placeless
The ketchup consumption in my house has dramatically increased this fall.
