I ARRIVED IN TUSCALOOSA earlier this evening, by way of Birmingham. Tuesday night. My day began a country mile east of Atchafalaya, in the heart of Old Louisianne. My shoe leather was worn thin, so I put my thumb out at first light, hoping for
“WHAT OTHER DUNGEON is so dark as one’s own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one’s self!” ― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables 1. When I was nine years old, I had a dream that I couldn’t wake up from. My parents
SHE ARRIVED TO CAMP on Monday afternoon with my two closest friends on the playa, a mischievous polyamorous couple from Tucson. It was Coconut’s first burn and within the hour she had joined us on an LSD-fueled bike ride through the still-emerging city of dust
BACK IN JUNE, on the day of the California Primary, I rode my bike down Micheltorena Street to Sunset Boulevard into the heart of Silverlake, and I caught Bernie Sanders giving out handshakes like they were going out of style. Turns out they were… Going out
MY MOUTH WOKE ME UP. It was wide open, resting on old carpet decorated with last night’s party, covering the floor of a decades-old RV in the middle of a desert. For reasons related to the mess on the floor, the camper’s door, like my
I’M THIRTY-ONE, still have most of my looks, and the summer is endless. I start my routine around 4 pm. First, I lay my uniform out on my bed, feed my dog, and then slip into the shower while she eats. Then I shave, put
THE FIRST TWO LINES are always the best. I wish someone had told me that up front, though I doubt it would have stopped me. The anticipation that comes from seeking a connection, picking up, and making your way home with a little bag of
THE CANDY-STRIPED ENVELOPE had arrived URGENT post-marked August 21st 2085, the day after his thirtieth birthday. He hadn’t been surprised and when his neighbor caught sight of the telltale mail, she’d smiled at him reassuringly as if to say, “This is probably for the best,
SLUG DIVE Wake up slug. Time to dream. Let’s chat in space, let’s suspend. A casual leap into gravity like you tasted the glass eye and dove like a slug. You wanted to. You said let’s go. So you did and I had no clue
THE CHICAGO CUBS EARNED their place in the NLCS by knocking out San Francisco fifteen minutes ago, and as the Giant’s last hope swung through empty air, tens of millions around the world temporarily lost their minds. Beers dropped, bars erupted, screams deafened, high-fives slammed,
“WATCH OUT FOR THE PISS.” The man in the American flag monster truck trucker hat put his hand around my waist so delicately that, for a moment, I didn’t know if I’d ended up in the wrong living room of sweaty strangers. “Just walk on
“…WHEREAS, THE WOMEN of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities…” –Joint Resolution of Congress, 1971 Designating August 26 of each year as Women’s Equality Day I am a witness. I have seen the power of woman. It is
YOU ARE SITTING IN THE WINDOW of your apartment smoking a cigarette like you have so many times before and you think it bothers your roommate, but you do it anyway. There are people shuffling outside at the bus stop and the bus is late
“SOME PEOPLE, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. ” – Vladimir Nabokov 1. My mother kept a journal, and she used to say that writing it all down was a mild form of
1. THE HUNGRY SENSE for travel, Universal in its draw, Stirs souls of every color, age, Faith, appetite and call. O’er middling plains, towards Eastern shores, Or westward mountain steep, The itch to move is scratched anew By those who seek the sea.
I LOATHE THIS PLACE. I’ve never understood it. But they kept telling me it had changed, now. There are bars with mixologists not ‘cheeky vimtos’ along with Pop-up’ burger places with food that comes in baskets and drinks that come in jam jars. Just like