Listen to: “Welcome Home, Son” — Radical Face

I’ve realized today that Oklahoma has stopped feeling like home, and rather is just another place I’m familiar with. Like the…

Listen to: “Misunderstood” — Wilco

Object permanence is a concept we all think we understand. Piaget said we grasp the concept as infants, but I’m not so sure. Time passes, and…

Listen to: “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home” — Mogwai

It’s over. After 4,327 miles, I’ve managed to cross the entirety of the US on a 250cc scooter. To be at the end of this…

Listen to: “Tulsa Imperative” — The Mountain Goats

Eventually, eastern Oklahoma will swallow up everything humanity has ever created on its soil, with vines, trees, and tall…

Listen to: “Kansas City” — Okkervil River

It feels good to be back on the road. Leaning into that first turn after riding up the driveway of my…

Now playing: “If You See Me Getting Smaller” — Waylon Jennings

I am shivering as I am writing this newsletter. Shivering because I thought it was warm enough to not need my jacket for the ten…

Listen to: “Via Chicago” — Wilco*

Everyone who grew up in a flyover state has a soft spot in their heart for Chicago. The city…

Listen to: “California One / Youth And Beauty Brigade” — The Decemberists

I am pure exhaustion, personified. After 9 hours spent sitting on the scooter today, with just an…

Listen to: “American Slang” — The Gaslight Anthem

American identity is mostly bullshit. Not in that it doesn’t exist, but in rather that it’s less of a…

Listen to: “Shenandoah” — Anais Mitchell

There is something altogether unique about riding a Vespa through what is a nearly Biblical plague of cicadas. Not pleasant…