Essay

Digital Wound

some thoughts about anxiety and love

It was the season in between summer and fall — a season of humid days, heat advisories, and burn bans every night, following some long stretches without rain. We didn’t worry about rain or snow. The only things we dreaded were the particles…

Thirty

on expectations

A few days after my thirtieth birthday, I drove over to a lakeside resort. I didn’t have a room booked, but I planned on taking a day trip to look at the water and the geese.

Hometown On Ice

an update on the place I’ve called home

These days, when I take out the trash in the evening, I’ll give the can a good shake before I open the lid. The raccoons that live in the can aren’t rabid, but they are mean. They growl, they spit, and they…

The Swarm

The first time I watched Derry Girls, I was immediately struck by one thing. In the opening sequence of the first episode, a military transport truck — hauling two armed soldiers — winds its way around the outskirts of Derry.

Mining Our Business

Some brief thoughts on mining and miners.

Granddad down in a mine,

me down in a cave —

both of us going deeper into Kentucky

Two Sturdy Branches : An Exploration of My Family Tree

A longform portrait of some distant (but beloved) ancestors.

a portrait of my distant (but beloved) Atlantic Creole and Andalusian ancestors

Charades

I was never cool. I’ve never been cool, and I never will be cool.

I grew up lower middle class (or upper working class) in one of the most downwardly-mobile towns in western Kentucky. In the summertime, I remember eating bologna sandwiches, chicken Vienna sausages, and fried chicken at…

Poodle

Looking back at the past twenty-nine years, and the years before those.

I WAS BORN with curved hair follicles. That’s why I have such curly hair. I don’t think the curls came from my mom’s side of the family. My dad and his mother both had curly hair, and it was roughly the same curl…