Best of 2024, Part One: Writers’ Picks

Further reading: 2023 review, 2022 review, 2021 review, 2020 review, 2019 review

With a blog like tpc, it’s unfortunately easy for excellence to fall through the cracks. The world turns, the sun rises, the new piece is posted, and we do it all over again. But at the end of the year, we as a blog stop to look back, sift through the archives, and find the posts that still haven’t let us go.

Over these next few days, we’ll hear from writers and the editors: what posts they are proud of, what posts kept rattling around in our heads, what posts left their mark. We’d love to hear from you all too: what are the words that shifted your opinions, that unveiled a new corner of the world previously unknown, that cast familiar feelings and familiar scenes into a new light? Our hope is that through these next few days, you can find some gems that you may have missed this last year or revisit some pieces that found their way into your lives.

Pieces are presented in order of publication day with a short comment from the writer about why this post stands above the rest.

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Full Soul | Sam Tuit

I did a few different introspective pieces this year, but I loved the way that this one gets at the rhythm of constant busyness without it feeling bad or overbearing.

The Secret Park | Christina Ribbens

It’s usually easier for me to write the silly pieces, so I’m proud of the more serious ones that I feel work—I wanted to capture a beloved place accurately and re-reading it now gives me warm fuzzy feelings, so I think it will serve my nostalgia needs for years to come.

Bat Tales | Ansley Kelly

This was a different style for me and I was proud and pleased to find that my off-beat humor comes through in writing. This piece also made for many shared laughs and moments of connection with co-workers and friends, which is what I believe the best writing should do.

Tortured Poets and Patient Artistry | Kipp De Man

I feel like I really discovered something for myself while writing this piece—even as the fullness of that “something” is still being worked out in my head and my own artistic practice.

Don’t Scroll Past | Alex Johnson

When we selected this topic for the theme month, I knew I finally had to write about the elephant in my room. It’s an ugly piece, but it’s the truth, and I’m proud that I wrestled through it.

The Foundations of the Thresholds | Kate Wilmot

It felt like a really big thing to be the person who got to write about the election immediately after it happened, and it was fun to try to bring my reader into the vulnerability of days like those rather than into the anger and cynicism many people were focusing on.

Purity is Misery | Josh Parks

This post is proof that writing is serendipitous: a theme month, a novel I felt guilty for never having read, a disastrous synod, and a two-year-old phone-it-in post met to teach me something about what—and who—is worth laughing at.

Dear Graduates of 2024 | Gwyneth Findlay

In a year where hope found little purchase, I embraced the urgency to co-sign—and hopefully even encourage—the brave students of pro-Palestinian encampments around the world.

Quarter-Century | Philip Rienstra

It’s a difficult choice this year from my trilogy of pieces about extremely important people in my life, but I’ll settle on this final part about my amazing spouse.

Menace | Gabrielle Eisma

It’s quick witted, fast paced, and still manages to be a good story. More than that, I can see some growth between pieces because of the fun prompt!

Word of the Year — The Halfway Point | Olivia Harre

This was the most difficult piece to write this year, but I wanted to honor my grandmother and her love of reading/all the love and light she brought to my life.

Dating Advice for My Past Self | Tiffany Kajiwara

I’m proud of how I was able to sum up a year of dating fairly concisely.

Chicago Stars | Carlisle Patete

This piece was one I felt like I’d been writing ever since I moved to Chicago, knowing that I would inevitably leave it one day, and therefore collecting all my meaningful moments in order to create the nostalgic collage I did here.

My Wife Got Hit by a Car | Isaac DeBoer

I picked this one because of the sensory details and paradoxes.

Choose Some Labels, and I’ll Tell You If You’re a Fraud | Hannah McNulty

This piece was a culmination of different, related struggles I’d been having this year, and I’m really proud of how I ended up formatting it and bringing it all together.

Spectral Tourism | Rylan Shewmaker

I’m proud of how I kept this piece tightly centered on my story and actually made it spooky while weaving in larger themes; I often struggle not to spiral way beyond my original intended story.

Nelson Sullivan, I Wish You Could’ve Seen 2015 | Mitchell Barbee

A week after I wrote the piece, the person who curates Nelson’s archives reached out to me to say he appreciated the piece, and I’m happy that I could be one small piece in keeping his legacy alive.

The Top 5 Best (And Worst) Things About Working at a Comedy Club | Sophia Medawar

I liked this piece most from this year because it reflects more about what my day-to-day life looks like, and that made me smile.

Falling in Love With Words Again | Sam Koster

This felt like a return to form for me, getting to reorient myself to what it is and why it is I do what I do, as well as I got to gush about some of the loveliest people I met this year.

Disaffiliate Me | Annaka Koster

Sometimes catharsis is all we can hope for.

The Lost Generation | Anna Jeffries

I thought it would be fluff but it was deeper than I thought, and I learned more about the world and myself through it.

Heartbreak is a Ghost. I’ll Say It. | Izzy Nunez

This was one of the first pieces I wrote that was a little more meaningful to me. I think it tackled a review in a nuanced way.