The other day, CNN’s top headline was: Rio 2016’s ‘perfect storm.’ “The Olympic Games arrive in Brazil at a time when the country is ravaged by crises,” it began, then detailed the Zika virus, the government meltdown, and economic woes. “No news,” one […]Read More ›
Lately I’ve been thinking about quitting writing. Fantasizing about it, in fact. And this fantasy is sad and confusing because writing has been my identity for 33 years. Because I don’t really know who I am without it. For a decade, […]Read More ›
In October, one of my molars became abscessed. Despite copious amounts of Tylenol and Ibuprofen, the pain was persistent, would wake me up at night. I fantasized about extracting my molar with plyers as I cried. After a root canal, […]Read More ›
Between January 2014 and July 2015 I saved up to travel the world. After 18 months, I’d accrued $10,000. Then in August 2015, I sank every last dollar into a condo in Minneapolis. In reality, I bought that condo so […]Read More ›
The last time I blogged it was February, and I wrote about writing and how I love writing and how it sometimes seems like the people and the things we love are preordained, out-of-our-control. We love them and we can’t […]Read More ›
Since 2001, I’ve been asked why I joined the military a thousand times. “What made you love it?” people ask. And I tell them that I wanted to travel, be a public servant, and go to college for free. But that’s […]Read More ›
Each December, as the new year approaches, I like to meditate on the lessons I’ve learned the previous 12 months. December’s cold and darkness make it conducive to this type of introspection. There’ve been a few times this year, and more broadly […]Read More ›
On Monday, Minneapolis had its first snowfall. Autumn is unofficially over, and today I opted to make the best of it. In the morning, I photographed Lake of the Isles. Then I bought a bottle of Bailey’s, came home, and began writing. “It’s […]Read More ›
Riding a camel in Cairo. Some interviews are this exciting. This week, I drove to St. Paul to conduct an interview. I’m writing a piece about anger, and John, the man I interviewed, has been teaching anger management classes at […]Read More ›
Picture: Jaipur, India For the past six weeks I’ve travelled extensively — in my mind. The log of my “psychological travels” is this 4,500-word essay that I wrote about my mother’s mental illness, my romantic relationship, my work with Medicaid […]Read More ›