Jul 23Traveling In the Time of ZillowA cursed blessing of having traveled far, of living in a lot of different places in one life, is that it makes you believe you can live anywhere. Add the possibility of remote work and you end up checking local listings on Zillow everywhere you go. We used to go…Parenting3 min readParenting3 min read
Jul 14Member-onlyNeed Rejection Therapy? Hang Out With a 2-Year-OldI’ve started asking friends if they want to read a novel manuscript I’ve been working on for the past five years. Set in Denver in 2019, about two friends running a cannabis company. I’m only asking other writers if they want to read it and give me feedback. It makes…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Jul 7Going Home, Thinking About FatherhoodI don’t know my philosophy on how to be a good dad yet, I’m just trying to be here for her — A tornado destroyed a home east of the John Deere dealer a few miles from our family farm a couple of weeks ago. Poor people. The house looked like it’d been cut open lengthwise from the top then split apart and dissected by unseen hands. You could see the pink…Fatherhood4 min readFatherhood4 min read
Jun 30Member-onlyCommunity, Jason Isbell, and Crying in H MartIt’s been two years since we moved to this house. Two years and two months since we had our daughter. Two years ago, on the first weekend we lived here we looked down the street and saw a tornado. Black and writhing on the horizon 15 miles away. …Colorado4 min readColorado4 min read
Jun 10Member-onlyScarred BeautyThe year that led up to this trip had been one of loneliness and poor decision-making and self-loathing. — I tied the laces of my running shoes and knotted the drawstring on my gym shorts. Helga handed me a lit spliff and said zis vill help. She sat cross-legged on a steel porch chair, dirty blonde dreadlocks spread over her shoulders. I took a little puff and she smiled…Fiction16 min readFiction16 min read
Feb 21Member-onlyNot Changing Is Way WorseThe only constant in life. Harder as we get older. However you want to deploy the cliché, major life change can be one of the most anxiety-inducing events in our lives. If you’re anything like me, you pride yourself in your ability to recognize the potential for anxiety and stress…Journalism3 min readJournalism3 min read
Jun 26, 2022Member-onlyDispatches from Midlife (4): Father’s DayJia wakes up early, before 7, crying more than usual because she’s teething. Her first top tooth is coming in, a tic tac erupting through her gums. I try to remember how that feels, sore and itchy. Nothing to be done but ice and time. When I go into her…Essay5 min readEssay5 min read
Jun 17, 2022Member-onlyDispatches from Midlife: (3) Betting it AllEven at my age, 42, I still have a lot of close friends who don’t have families, who never married, or who tried it and it didn’t work for them. They live on beaches, in foreign countries, with all the flexibility and freedom one man could have. They have all…Essay Writing4 min readEssay Writing4 min read
Jun 13, 2022Member-onlyDispatches from Midlife: (2) Gate closing panicVia Tim Urban There’s a German word for the feeling that more doors of opportunity close as we age — torschlusspanik — which the internet tells me is literally translated to “gate closing panic.” That’s what midlife feels like a lot of the time. The gates are coming down and…Midlife5 min readMidlife5 min read
Jun 6, 2022Member-onlyDispatches From Midlife: (1) Where I’m Calling FromThe first weekend we lived here — exactly one year ago this week — a tornado touched down about 15 miles south of town. We could see it clearly over the short corn in the field at the end of the street. Black. Twisting, biting at the land near the…Colorado5 min readColorado5 min read
