Best of 2024, Part One: Writers’ Picks
It’s unfortunately easy for excellence to fall through the cracks.
Alex Johnson (‘19) is a virtual computer science teacher and a proud resident of Grand Rapids. When she’s not brainstorming the newest project to inflict on her students, she’s cooking semi-vegetarian food, reading too many romance books, and playing rhythm games.
Being Left In Church
In the coming months, I will remember their absence again and again.
The Aldi Aisles
I want so deeply to love the people around me.
Don’t Scroll Past
When the topic comes up in conversation, I pause before saying the word genocide.
My Summer, as Viewed via YouTube Music
There was no way I wasn’t going to listen to a song named after my home state.
Show to Nowhere
Infinity Train feels like my white whale of media.
“TY Letter Out Soon!”
At this point, it feels like I’m writing thank you notes out of obligation, like I had the equivalent of an internet wedding and instead of noting gifts given, I’m thanking them for playing a game with me for four hours.
Rebuilding Beautiful
It means so much to me that I can hardly bear to let other people know that I’m struggling to keep it afloat.
Call For Audition Submissions
Are you interested in joining the post calvin community? We have openings for new writers beginning this August, and we’d love to hear from you!
Twelve Gifts of State Testing
This was increasingly bad when that entrance was closed due to the impending NFL draft.
Little Talks
I don’t want to be deeply emotionally available to every person I happen upon.
Money on My Mind
Let’s not even talk about retirement.
On the Side
Doesn’t sound like a Hallmark movie, that’s for sure.
Best of 2023, Part Three: Best in tpc History
These pieces have stood the test of time (or of SEO practices).
What Day Is It?
I cuddled up in her guest bed and thought, You know, taking trips isn’t so bad.
Dead Leaves
My future seemed akin to typical Michigan weather: bright but cloudy.
You Stay Inside All Day (Derogatory)
Am I enabling students to become more withdrawn, to become more anxious about engaging with the world outside their computer screen?
The Memory of a Screen
It is forever in the way that every teenager screenshots a text message to send to a friend in disbelief, in the way that grandmothers download pictures off of Facebook and print them out.
Pawtuckaway O’Clock
4 am to 6 am: Camping’s witching hour.
In Which I Pretend to Design
Maybe scrapbooking is my true calling.
Call for Audition Submissions
Are you interested in joining the post calvin community? We have a few openings for new writers beginning this August, and we’d love for you to audition!
Things My Father Was Right About
As if I was meant to absorb the classics in the womb.
Maybe I Just Can’t Resist Big Shiny Objects
Perhaps the Meijer family is more savvy than I give them credit for.
To London, with Love
You reached your hand out of the ocean of people, standing stock-still in the middle of an intersection while the masses swarmed around you, and I took it.
Figure 1: Chronic Overcommitment Cycle
But then your inbox stays dead. Your calendar remains open.
Santa Hat on a Tree, Nails in the Walls
If I lived alone, my apartment would probably look destitute.
Best of 2022, Part Two: Writers’ Picks
There’s a reason New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are holidays.
Variations on Messiah
But the Mystery of Love prevailed: God did not say Goodbye or Who Are You but Hey Ya; no Ghost Rule, but God crowned Jesus Lord of the Castle.
To Speak or To Die
How does revealing to them that my mother has died help? What’s the point?
The New York Thruway
The GPS says three hundred miles to the next turn, and the only thing you can do is pop on the next episode of Serial, mentally prepare yourself for the amount of tolls you are going to E-ZPass through, and settle in.
