My bandmate Mike recently texted me a photo of the $50 check from our first brewery gig and delightedly noted it was the first time he'd received a check for playing music. I texted back, It feels amazing to make $ for creative work! Yay! But also, I'm sorry capitalism makes this feel like the... Continue Reading →
Six years ago today, I got home from work, and was sitting across from my then-husband telling him about my day when his cell phone rang. At first, I didn't pay a lot of attention, then he said some things like "holy, shit" and "I love you, man," and hung up. It had been his... Continue Reading →
There is something terribly clarifying about existential moments like the one we're living through. When all of life feels uncertain, we suddenly focus in a crystalline way about what really matters to us. It reminds me of Brené Brown saying, “The Universe comes down, puts her hands on your shoulders, and pulls you close and... Continue Reading →
I was sitting at my desk at work yesterday when my phone buzzed — a text from my friend Michele's phone. I'd sent her a short poem in the morning — something I'd been doing for months, along with silly pictures of my corgis or flowers, or little love notes — check-ins to let her... Continue Reading →
I hate to fly, but I love to see other places, so planes are a necessary evil. Things had been rough both personally and professionally for weeks, and I was ready to do just about anything for a break from my life anyway; I felt tight and angry as a fist in need of some... Continue Reading →
You know it’s been a long time when you think it is the 15th anniversary of a death and then realize, counting backwards, that it's actually the 14th, and your brain has done bad math again. It might as well be the 100th, it feels so long. Or the first, all over again, because there's... Continue Reading →
Wow, what a time to be alive, and afraid, and also so clear. The pandemic has made all of us reevaluate what matters to us, and what we really can't do without. I can't do without my friends. I wouldn't be able to survive this seemingly endless pandemic halfway sane without them. Jena, Karen, and... Continue Reading →
There’s that quote you’ve likely heard: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle” — attributed to Plato — or one of the similar iterations by others: “Be kind because everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about,” and “Be kind because everyone is carrying a heavy burden.” You get the... Continue Reading →
“Really get your nose down in there,” the presenter said as he demonstrated, tipping the glass and inserting his proboscis into the globe. Our pony-tailed, bespectacled connoisseur instructed us to swirl the wine around the glass swiftly to introduce oxygen and “open it up.” With a mind that whirls madly churning through worries, to dos,... Continue Reading →
For many years, I had the recurring dream that I had to go back to college — specifically Hampshire College — where I met my future husband and countless, enduring friends. Each iteration of the dream was a little different: I had the same roommate, but we had to find beds in a giant open... Continue Reading →
True Scrawl 