August 31, 2024

My Own Personal Radio

A quick history of personal music lists, from making mixtapes to curating 65-hour-long playlists based on a physical music collection.

July 31, 2024

The Lifecycle of a Band

At a local festival, you’ll find the full spectrum of experience and status — the entire lifecycle of a band, from their first show to their hundredth festival headliner spot.

June 30, 2024

How to Clean a Blood Stain

Some simple instructions on how to clean a blood stain, and some simple thoughts on why small things still feel really big.

May 30, 2024

Giveth; Taketh Away

In middle school, I had a Super Nintendo. And then I didn’t. Here’s a short story about poverty, property rights, and the things we wish when we don’t know any better.

April 30, 2024

The Impermanence of Our Creations

Thousands of user-created levels in Super Mario Maker disappeared on April 8th, but not before a worldwide push to complete each and every final level at least once. Now that they’re gone, was any of it even worth it to begin with?

February 29, 2024

The Songs I’m Embarrassed By

The embarrassments in our musical history helped shape our taste. (Doesn’t mean anyone every wants to talk about them — or act like they ever existed in the first place.)

January 31, 2024

Contextualizing the Ten Weeks of Darkness

We’ve just exited the “darkest ten weeks of the year.” But, as with anything relating to time, we need a little context to understand why that matters.

December 30, 2023

A Clumsy Metaphor About the Sioux Falls

It’s always easy to look back at a hard year and to be happy to let it go — but, it doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s always there.

November 30, 2023

Eight Paragraphs about Grand Jury Duty

I’ve been on grand jury duty for the past 13 months, with five more months to go. It’s boring, exhausting, and challenging — often, all at the same time.

October 31, 2023

Crisis as Building Blocks

Crisis is a natural and ordinary part of growing, despite our hope as parents that we can keep all crisis away from our kids.