Joanna Detz practices yoga and goes on multiple daily walks with her dogs. Nina Ignaczak escapes to a nearby creek. And Amy Martin makes a cup of tea, takes a deep breath, and gets back to work. Detz, Ignaczak, and Martin are all founders of news organizations focused on the…

It’s equally miserable, trust me. — August 4 will mark two and a half years since I became a widow. With that impending milestone, I’m finding myself in the midst of a grief wave. It’s like I’m in the early days of loss: I’ve had several sleepless nights, made one too many impulse purchases, dwelled on…

We’ve completed 32 miles so far, and have only 2,158 miles to go. — As of last Sunday, I’ve hiked 32.4 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve hiked those miles over the course of two weekends, two consecutive years in a row, with three other incredible women. And I couldn’t be prouder of us. Katie, Yasirah, Sarah, and I all played on the same…

This essay might suck … and that’s ok. — This essay might suck. That’s not because I’m about to tackle anything controversial. It’s because there’s no way that everything I write will connect with every reader. More so, it’s because I’m not writing this essay from a particularly confident or clear-headed place. I didn’t want to write this. I…

Connecting with nature is the first step. — On a Saturday last March, I joined my friend Josie and dozens of other volunteers at a nearby beach to pick up trash. Josie and I chatted as we walked along the shore, scanning the ground for garbage. …

I had surgery on my right ear four weeks ago. The operation involved a mastoidectomy, to remove a cyst called a cholesteatoma; and a tympanoplasty, to repair my eardrum. The two procedures are often done in tandem, which means they’ve earned their own cute celeb mashup name: Tympanomastoidectomy. (I promise…

It’s hard for me to admit this, but here goes: I don’t want to return to a full-time job. I left my salaried position at the end of 2017. It was a decision I fully believed was a grief-fueled whim, one that I’d snap out of sooner or later. I…

The opening scene of Netflix’s new series “Dead to Me,” is pitch perfect. Christina Appelgate, who plays newly widowed Jen, is standing at her front door. She’s clad in all black, and looks emotionally spent. Her well-intentioned but ultimately clueless neighbor, Karen, proudly offers her a homemade casserole. “Jeff and…

Birthdays are complicated. The milestone of turning another year older usually prompts me to obsess over signs of aging and whether or not I’ve accomplished enough in life. And, believe it or not, I don’t usually wind up thinking, “Wow, I do look young and I have accomplished a lot!”…