If you wish to elevate your writing to the next level, transform every reading experience into a vivisection — Whether it be a book, short story, or article, every piece of writing is a living creature operating within its own logic. Once you look inside of them and understand what makes them tick, you can apply the strengths you’ve identified to your own writing. Feel free to pick up…

Understanding what creative people are made of can help us align with greatness. — Creative individuals are by nature rare. They’re beings that force cultures on the micro and macro scale into rapid evolution. Perhaps a supernatural presense uses them as conduits for expressing new thoughts and creating new forms. You probably aren’t one of those people. It’s okay — most of us aren’t…

My parents didn’t know he even existed. — In 2001, the internet was a lawless frontier ripe with opportunities to make friends with complete strangers. The required “A/S/L?” — age, sex, location — at the beginning of every online interaction was an ice breaker, not a barrier to entry. For an 11 year old introvert like me, the internet was a godsend. I was relentlessly bullied in elementary school and hoped middle school could be…

If Fido turns feisty around your Black friends, you may have a racist dog on your hands — I’m sure my White friends and acquaintances don’t intend for their dogs to be racist. They’re good, politically conscious White people. Most voted for Bernie in the primary elections. The really good ones have a Black Lives Matter T-shirt lovingly shoved into the back of a drawer somewhere. These people…