By U.S. State
By Country
While on a Walk
by Will Montei | Sep 14, 2018 | Washington
Standing there, I have a similar sensation to the one on the Peter Pan ride at Disney World when your pirate ship escapes through the window of the children’s bedroom to reveal a sleepy London beneath you.
Take a Hike
by Olivia Harre | Sep 13, 2018 | Maine
But after a few more minutes of walking, I saw it: the view from the top—the mountains that dropped into the sea, the trees already changing into their fall garments, the ocean fading into the sky.
The Third Place
by Abby Zwart | Sep 12, 2018 | Placeless
Need coffee coffee coffee and a conversation with Lorelai at breakneck speed? Curious what Kirk’s new odd job is?lu
Just Do It
by Matt Cambridge | Sep 11, 2018 | Placeless
I make it about me, and I don’t listen.
Desert Bloom
by Jenna Griffin | Sep 10, 2018 | California
I mean the real world, the one that roots and flowers and rots and hunts and shivers and casts its eyes to the moon and howls and sinks into dirt and blushes into color.
Kitten, Monotony
by Gwyneth Findlay | Sep 9, 2018 | Placeless
A kitten has milestones: vet visits, physical growth, the passage from kitten to cat food.
Bird Listening
by Josh Parks | Sep 8, 2018 | Placeless
Rautavaara challenges the assumption that music belongs unequivocally to humanity by making birdsong a challenger and equal partner to “humansong.”
Queso Heart
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Sep 7, 2018 | New York
I don’t write about Steve that much on this blog because it’s cheesy and annoying and also I know that love isn’t just the cheesy stuff.
Everything is Copying
by Josh deLacy | Sep 6, 2018 | Placeless
You get one or two good ideas of your own, and that’s it. That’s all you get to work with, and you can either beat your ass like some self-flagellating monk to make something with that idea, or you can leave it alone and keep on copying.
First World Problems: Easy Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Waste
by India Daniels | Sep 5, 2018 | Placeless
I stitched together my favorite childhood flannel sheets and some old towels to make my own sentimental reusable paper towels.
That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas, But Neither Am I, I Guess)
by Caitlin Gent | Sep 4, 2018 | Texas, Wisconsin
Get your laughs in, Midwesterners, but for eight-year-old Caitlin, Texas was paradise.
The Visa Voyage
by Hannah Bechtold | Sep 3, 2018 | Laos, Thailand
I awoke to our driver speaking in an urgent and concerned tone while tapping the horn.
On and Off with Andy
by Cotter Koopman | Sep 2, 2018 | Placeless
We’re getting used to this: the shepherding of my distracted attention back into the air. Sitting off to the side and seeing my traffic go by.
“Little Venice” is Sinking
by Katerina Parsons | Sep 1, 2018 | Venezuela
Neighboring governments are refusing to accept these hungry, oppressed citizens, just for lacking a simple pamphlet made of dead trees and bureaucracy.
A Metro to the Moon
by Matt Leistra | Aug 31, 2018 | Washington, D.C.
As the train and your pulse both speed up, something happens. In the middle of a step, between the time when your back foot leaves the ground and lands in front of the other, you seem to be weightless.
The Art of Staying
by Aemelia Tripp | Aug 30, 2018 | Grand Rapids
I love the city I now call home, but it’s never been my destination.
I Didn’t Know Shit About A Lot of Things
by Chris Curia | Aug 29, 2018 | Placeless
I’m a youth director who wakes up most mornings wondering if God is even real. I’m prone to weariness from the locational and spiritual uncertainty of my future.
Sounds of Salamá
by Matt Coldagelli | Aug 28, 2018 | Guatemala
From the kitchen comes the pitter-patter of the pressure cooker, rap tap tapping, hissing spurts of steam, signaling that something delectable will be on the table at the next meal—most likely black beans.
In Life and in Death
by Brad Zwiers | Aug 27, 2018 | Grand Rapids
A hot and electric pulse coursed through my body, like the shock you receive from an exposed wire, only longer-lasting, and warmer.
The Strip Mall Zoologist
by Nick Meekhof | Aug 26, 2018 | Placeless
Maybe when I have bigger problems I’ll consider switching my primary care physician to someone with a background in medicine.
Just a House
by Katie Van Zanen | Aug 25, 2018 | Grand Rapids, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan
I was suddenly aware of everything: the squelch of the slider door’s rubber seal releasing as my brother came in from the yard. The creak and crash of the screen door to the garage behind my dad.
Goddess of Weaving
by Leigh Peterson | Aug 24, 2018 | Placeless
Or maybe I was right to be scared. Maybe my parents only told me giant spiders weren’t real so that I would let my guard down.
The Glorious Summer the Ceiling Fell In: A Plan for a Poem
by Julia LaPlaca | Aug 23, 2018 | Placeless
I’d personify the pigeons that crowd onto the narrowest of ledges on the building across the street, their plumage flashing psychedelic green and pink.
Encounters of the Patron Kind: Three Memories from Work at a Public Library
by Sadie Burgher | Aug 22, 2018 | Placeless
I’m not allowed to comment on the items that patrons check out, so I try not to pay attention.
This Old House: Things I Learned Time Traveling
by Emily Joy Stroble | Aug 21, 2018 | Colorado
It is in the repetitive ritual of opening and closing the house each day—unrolling the broken shade by hand, wrestling with the deadbolt on the warped front door, seeing age—that I find inexplicable revelations.
A Pindaric Ode for the Paris Gay Games
by Gabe Gunnink | Aug 20, 2018 | France, Ohio
So, in order to commemorate these tenth Gay Games, I have decided to pen my very own over-the-top, saccharinely sincere Pindaric ode. Let’s hope it’s not, well, terrible.
Teaching When You Shouldn’t Have To
by Mary Margaret Healy | Aug 19, 2018 | Placeless
What I’ve keyed into is the difference between learning as a victim and learning as a perpetrator.
Pete
by Ben DeVries | Aug 18, 2018 | Placeless
All I know about the donut scene in Champaign, Illinois, I owe to a man named Pete.
Chess Bots
by Tony Ditta | Aug 17, 2018 | Placeless
The people I know with whom I’ve recently played chess are similarly much better than me. When we play, I view it more as a self-esteem boost for them than a real contest.
Getting Around in Sicily
by Andrew Knot | Aug 16, 2018 | Sicily
“Sì sì sì sì,” he said. The letters had rearranged themselves in Italian. This is how we would communicate.
