A Lament for Southwest Airlines
Southwest assumed the best of its passengers and treated them like smart, capable people. And we rose to the occasion.
To Cope with the Situation, All My Friends Started Birdwatching
I’m very supportive. I nod encouragingly. Even though a part of me expects that I am being had.
How to Do Things Alone (And Like It)
Live like you’re in a Ghibli montage.
Making Murmuration
Start with your community, your neighborhood, your roost.
Par for the Comfort
I had totally conflated “my best” and “the best.”
The Green Knight: A Story for When Christmas Is ‘Dark and Hard’
Every event feels necessary, but most of it is nonsense.
Don’t Bring That: Regrettable Conversation Topics as Unfortunate Thanksgiving Dishes
The “salads” of the mid-twentieth century should probably be left off the Thanksgiving table. I’ve seen recipes for abominations that mixed lime jello, shredded carrot, cheese, and Cool Whip. I’ve heard stories involving tuna!
Stone Ghosts of the Green Isle
You can judge a true Irish pub by its seating situation—the sparser the chairs, the better the craic (music and merrymaking).
Snooze: Is It All Lew’s Fault?
“You can leave our boy, GENERAL LEW WALLACE, famous author of Ben-Hur and fishing enthusiast, entirely OUT OF IT! Thank you very much.”
Bookends: It Matters When You Read a Book
Do you get that heady rush after finishing a book? Like drinking a fruity cocktail too fast?
The Tragedy of Camille Claudel
I can’t help but think that we do people a disservice when we view their gifts only or mostly through the lens of their pain.
A Little Further Along: A Letter to Future tpc Writers
Writing is a lot like your first eyeglass prescription. Suddenly, it is very intense to be alive.
Dante in Joshua Tree
Have we considered that the Tree of Knowledge could have been a prickly pear?
‘The Tortured Poets Department’: Why Is Taylor Swift So Good at Writing Girlhood?
Overall, the album works, especially as an examination of what it means to outgrow a person, a place, a dream—bittersweet.
Indicator Lights for Luddites
I got a new car, but I don’t really get my new car.
Hypothetically (Asking for a Friend)
By asking silly or fantastical questions, you make space for another person to be a larger, truer version of themselves.
That Jellyfish Gets More Lives Than Me?
Imagine if we cloned ourselves as a normal part of middle school and each of our clones, identical to us in every way, went off to live independent lives.
Sad Christmas Songs Hit Different in the Dark
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” is consistently (ironically) slept on in favor of the worn, saccharine “Silent Night.”
Five Hundred Words on Twenty-Six Years of Failed Writing Goals
Numbers have a surprising tyranny over me, a word person.
Happy Birthday to My Least-Favorite Favorite Author!
It’s a matter of honor, not passion.
The International Fishmonger and Other Friends
The more I think about it, the more memories I recall.
Good Lessons from Bad TV
Even twaddle contains some truth.
It’s Time for Christmas Music
We have this unfortunate habit of dieting joy and worshiping scarcity.
Magic in a Cup
Every wondrous realization of truth begins with making your imagination big enough to hold it.
I Love Being a Woman…But
Maybe it’s the patriarchy, maybe it’s Maybelline.
‘Suzume’: The Movie Your Inner Child Needs
“We live side-by-side with death.” And we are allowed to be afraid of it.
The Cities That Were
Ruins should horrify us—grim testaments to our permanent impermanence
What Would Tolkien Think of “Goblin Mode”?
“You’ve got it the wrong way around,” I imagine Tolkien saying.
23 Things that Make You an Objectively Cool Person
Discipline is cool. A fascination with violence is not.
The Whittling
Are our true selves buried under all our stuff?
