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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.
A Recipe for Fame
by Abby Zwart | Nov 12, 2018 | Placeless
And if you’ve ever been so unlucky as to be served a “modernized” version of green bean casserole that calls for shallots and haricots-verts and wild mushrooms… I’m sorry.
Foreign Prayer
by Jenna Griffin | Nov 11, 2018 | Romania
But do we ever really comprehend what happens when we try to meet with God?
Twenty-nine
by Matt Cambridge | Nov 10, 2018 | Grand Rapids, Hungary, Michigan
So Happy Birthday, Kendahl, and cheers to twenty-nine. This year is going to be the best one yet.
Dr. Gladwell, or: How I Learned to Stop Envying and Love the Story
by Gwyneth Findlay | Nov 9, 2018 | Canada
Storytime with Dr. Gladwell was the highlight of every other Monday and among the most formational aspects of my early education.
A Pre– and Post–Election Day Prayer
by Josh Parks | Nov 8, 2018 | Placeless
Thank you that this country is a democracy and that the universe is not.
On Not Doing All the Cooking
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Nov 7, 2018 | Placeless
“Good morning! There are pancakes!”
Our Fragile Democracy
by Josh deLacy | Nov 6, 2018 | Placeless
In the 15 years since electronic voting machines were first adopted by many states, numerous reports by computer scientists have shown nearly every make and model to be vulnerable to hacking.
Sacred Spaces: Some Distinctly Un-data-driven Conclusions
by India Daniels | Nov 5, 2018 | Chicago, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Seeing chipped stained glass and other signs of disrepair was dismaying, but it also renewed my appreciation of how church architecture brings grandeur into public space.
An Apostate’s Epistle, Vol. II
by Caitlin Gent | Nov 4, 2018 | Placeless
Well, we both know how that worked out in the end, and suffice it to say that both of us know that I am never going back, except for with my family on Christmas and Easter. Apostate as I may be, I am not a bad daughter.
Toothache
by Cotter Koopman | Nov 2, 2018 | Placeless
Mom made fajitas for dinner that night. I’ve never been so aware of the texture and toughness of food—I kept trying to gum it down, stubborn, spitting it out in the napkin, going again.
Who’s Entitled to Blueberry Muffins?
by Katerina Parsons | Nov 1, 2018 | Placeless
Let’s start in a coffee shop where a middle aged woman has just been told that there are no more blueberry muffins. She reacts badly.
Fortitude
by Laurel Ackerman | Oct 31, 2018 | Alaska, Holland, Israel, Michigan
Then MOses set OUT with JOSHua his AIDE. And MOses went UP the MOUNtain of GOD.
The Parable of Coffee and Its Lover
by Bethany Cooper | Oct 31, 2018 | Placeless
If you’re looking for a redemptive ending, I don’t have one.
Dim Vision: Worship as a Microcosm of White Privilege
by Kathryn Mae Post | Oct 30, 2018 | Grand Rapids
As a white person, it’s easy for me to assume that my way of viewing the world is normal. And not just normal, but best. That my way of talking is best. That my way of keeping time is best. That my way of doing church is best.
Love from 37,000 Feet
by Comfort Sampong | Oct 30, 2018 | Placeless
I will battle against my own impatience and distrust as I remember that people are not exchangeable puzzle pieces.
Everlasting Bonds
by Kyric Koning | Oct 29, 2018 | Placeless
“We should totally hang out.”
The lie comes easily. Situations such as this feel like they require politeness and kindness more than truth.
Baby Talk
by Matt Coldagelli | Oct 28, 2018 | Placeless
The man: “Wow, how great. Now you be sure to take super special care of that beautiful baby. What’s her name?”
Fear in a Russ’ Restaurant
by Brad Zwiers | Oct 27, 2018 | Placeless
Random man: MY REAL NAME IS DONALD J. TRUMP AND YOU’RE FIRED!
What I Think About When I Camp Alone
by Nick Meekhof | Oct 26, 2018 | Michigan
That’s one thing that sucks about winter camping. There’s nothing to do after it gets dark, except drink beer and stare at the fire.
Everything Really Matters, A Lot
by Katie Van Zanen | Oct 25, 2018 | Egypt, Placeless
B: I think that it might be important to take a minute and savor the fact that you no longer actively think you’re terrible
I’m Tired of Hearing Men Talk about The Last Jedi, So I Asked a Lady Robot
by Leigh Peterson | Oct 24, 2018 | Placeless
E: Ik heb een zwemdiploma maar als ik in jou ogen kijk verdrink ik.
L: Uh? Sorry, one more time? I want to make sure the readers get this.
The Tell-Tale Figment of My Imagination
by Julia LaPlaca | Oct 23, 2018 | Placeless
The eternal shades of nightly gloom, which had so recently entwined my soul like a noose, loosened their chokehold and seemed to float away, ethereal bonds dissipating like specks of dust caught in a sunbeam.
A Cure for Homesickness
by Sadie Burgher | Oct 22, 2018 | Alabama
ANGELICA
(continues in the gravelly voice)
WIPE your tears, princess, we’re gonna serenada you. ANITUS!
I Am Not Myself Tomorrow
by Emily Joy Stroble | Oct 21, 2018 | Placeless
Free-Spirit Emily: (Scrolling through Anthropologie’s still impossibly expensive “sale” category) Oh believe me, you can. Remember the computer we never updated? We had it for years.
Existential Check-Up
by Gabe Gunnink | Oct 20, 2018 | Placeless
Now, if you’ll sit over here, I’m just going to take your anxiety. You’re going to feel some tightness. That’s normal. Okay?
Okay.
Memento Reply All
by Mary Margaret Healy | Oct 19, 2018 | Placeless
Isn’t Kelsey on the party planning committee or whatever? I feel like she’s too much of a Try-Hard to pass up something like that. I hope she remembers I’m gluten free so I can eat something other than a fruit cup this year.
