Jan 2, 2020Member-onlyA Blueprint for Better Mental HealthI think a lot about my addled brain, with my addled brain. No surprise, I guess. I’m a writer. We’re good at it, or if not good, relentless. What I mean is that I think a lot about my mental health, since staving off depression and PTSD is a daily…Mental Health4 min read
Nov 21, 2019Member-onlyUntitled SelfieSet the tripod in your living room and slip your phone within its grip. Click the power button and open the camera app. Bluetooth the remote. Step back into the frame and gauge the lighting. Flick on a third light. Strip off your shirt and step into the frame. Try…Short Story7 min read
Oct 15, 2019Member-onlyThat Time You Raised Racial Demographics at an All-Staff MeetingManagement at your new job holds an all-staff meeting to discuss office culture, and they ask everyone to write words on Post-its describing the culture anonymously. So on one Post-it you write “homogeneous,” since the office is 100% white, and the surrounding small, regional city is not. Everyone turns in…LGBTQ2 min read
Published in P.S. I Love You·Oct 9, 2019Member-onlyApocalypse Now, or Whenever You Might Have a Spare MomentI’ve always been soft-spoken. Even in bed. “Are you having a good time?” is a question I’ve heard a dozen times by various men, always with discouraging timing, like right after a bout of what I think are obvious grunts of my approval. I go through life speaking, and groaning…Sex5 min read
Published in P.S. I Love You·Sep 25, 2019Member-onlyHow To Get Lost in AmericaA few weeks after my separation, I got stuck in the snow at the top of a mountain. I’d fled the gut-punch of my husband’s rejection and the ritual monthly sacrifice of $4k that San Francisco now demanded for a one-bedroom apartment. I’d lived there for 18 years, the only…Relationships17 min read
Sep 25, 2019Member-onlySaving You Somewhere in IowaYour parents are ghosts and you’re the empty house they drift through, knocking softly on the walls. Your parents were monsters. You were raised by wolves. Who did the best they could. With what they had. Your father was an alien. A cipher. A plainspoken Indiana boy who’d — against…Family3 min read
Published in Human Parts·Sep 17, 2019Member-onlyAfter a Childhood of Abuse, True Crime Saved MeDuring a dark time, true crime kept me tethered to sanity — A few years ago, life came at me in a batshit series of events. Worn down by a lifetime of suicidal depression, I finally got the guts to hire a therapist to help me confront the sexual abuse and neglect I’d gone through as a kid. At the same time…Self9 min read
Published in The Startup·Sep 10, 2019Member-onlyThe Night I Fed A TrollWhat an online hater taught me about creativity. — The email popped in my inbox with the subject line: “Saw You Online and OMG!” This was a few years ago, before those words had become a spammer’s ubiquitous tease. Before I’d learned that those words never lead you someplace good. I took the bait and found my own face…This Happened To Me6 min read
Aug 29, 2019The Dude of FraudulenceI am a fraud. The thought shoved through my front door, late one night, hours after I’d come home from a 12-step meeting where a friend had asked me to pass out the chips. You know chips. The plastic or metal coins ex-drunks and ex-pillheads carry in their pockets that…Writing6 min read
Aug 14, 2019How to Answer Your Company’s “Best Place to Work” SurveyWe at__________would like to express our appreciation for your hard work and dedication. As part of our efforts to attain the GREAT PLACE TO WORK® certification, we invite you to answer the following questions: What are your favorite aspects of the job? The kitchen that is bigger than my apartment…Memoir3 min read
