I am working on a story that I’ve been trying to tell for a long time. It’s fiction, a novel that I’m building from a novella I wrote in college. It’s about a boy who loves his family but watches it fall apart and how he lives and heals in the wreckage. Loosely. It’s also about a cat.
An Adult To-Do List
Ten recent and normal human things that baffle me in young single adulthood AKA times I wish I did still live with my competent and […]
The Meaning of the Middle
My friend Jenna said something to me in the spring of 2014 that changed me. She was visiting me in Boston during our senior year of college, and I was laying out my truths for her as we walked through Cambridge: that I hadn’t been okay, that I had relapsed in self-harm, that I felt like the nearly seven years I spent not relapsing meant nothing. I had promised myself never again and I had broken that promise. Spectacularly.
The Physicality of Giving
I volunteered at Caritas of Austin’s Community Kitchen yesterday morning. They are a local nonprofit that works to end homelessness in the Austin area through education, job placement, and food services. My four-hour shift was spent preparing the dining room, putting out donated cupcakes on trays, and then pouring milk for the 200+ guests that came through during the lunch service. After the guests left, we put the leftovers away, swept, mopped, and took off our aprons.
My Body & I: A Love Story
My body and I are best friends, but even best friends fight. Our origin story would be best tagged as “enemies to friends to lovers” in an AO3 search string. I wasted so much of my adolescence battling my changing body, criticizing it the mirror, obsessing over the number on my jeans and always being able to say “small” when asked for my t-shirt size.
I Hope You Dance
I take a Zumba class on Monday nights at my fitness club. I like it mostly because I’ve memorized the steps in the last five months I’ve been going, leaving my mind to have fun rather than think the way through the dance. When I first took the class I barely thought about the exercise; all my energy was on watching the instructor and trying not to look ridiculous.
The Screen Time Time-Suck
My iPhone lets me know my screen time average once a week; that is, how much time each day I’m spending looking at my phone. It was 2 hours and 13 minutes last week. With an average of 69 phone pickups per day. And that was down 17% from the week before. I am mildly appalled.
The Door
I stare at the closed door
While ages passed, or more
Wondering what I could find
Looking at what’s left behind
I’m Not Telling You To Go To Therapy, But You Should
TW: Brief mention of self-harm For me, going to see my therapist is like going to the gym, not like going to urgent care. It’s […]
Wine-Colored Glasses
We are immersed in a heavy drinking culture, especially living in Austin when there are so many cool ways to drink casually: wine tastings, brewery hopping, hipsters bars, and great happy hour and boozy brunch deals. It does seem that most of social life is revolved around drinking. Even the most casual hang is a “come over for pizza and wine.”