On Ben Rector’s New Album: Nostalgia, Manhood and Magic

Ben Rector is not the only songwriter in recent memory who’s been inspired to wax poetic upon the birth of his first child. Example: In 2016, Sturgill Simpson released “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth,” an album-as-letter-to-his-newborn-son…

I was a mid-thirties relationship virgin

But who is anyone to declare whether or not I have bloomed?

Thirty, Flirty, and Going Gray

I had just put my head down to take a nap during seventh period study hall when I felt the snap and sting…

Concert Review: A Night in Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden State of Mind

Welcome to Spinstertown: Not as Seen on TV

A few years ago, at a bar in my hometown on the Friday night before Christmas, one of…

#BadDateFiles: Killer Tofu

Brooklyn, Spring 2016: It was just after doors, and I was waiting for a friend and having a pre-concert drink at the venue bar when I noticed the cute guy sitting a few stools over. The idea of meeting a guy at a show has always appealed to me as a hypothetical perfect scenario…

#BadDateFiles: The Unsolicited Second-Date Mix CD

“Harry” and I matched on the Hinge dating app, which at the time indicated that we were connected within a few degrees of mutual Facebook friends. He was friendly, upbeat, and gainfully employed in an industry closely related to my own. For our…

Ghosts Walk (and Text) Among Us

Earlier this year, I pitched an idea for an essay to an editor at a new publication. He responded the…

#BadDateFiles: The Bitter Substitute Broker

Summer, 2014: I was on my way to do the final walk-through before signing the lease…