-
Democrats: Stop Talking Down to Voters
Well, here we are folks. Another Trump presidency. What has surprised me, and I think many, isn’t necessarily that Trump won, but that it wasn’t even close. The numbers still aren’t final, but it looks like Kamala Harris got about 10 million fewer votes than Joe Biden in 2020, whereas Donald Trump has slightly surpassed…
-
This is my voice
I spent the final four months of undergrad at York St. John’s University, where I took a creative writing module. I honestly don’t remember any of it very well, apart from two gems from the instructor: First, that I had been using “per se” incorrectly my whole life. (Thanks.) And second, in response to a…
-
Writing from the other side of a year
A year ago, I found out that I was losing my job. Two months into a graduate program is particularly bad timing (or at least it felt that way at the time). And right after moving in together with my husband to our first apartment, in a new city, with no friends or social network. …
-
In Reflection: A Year of Self-Discovery in Wales
I spent the first twenty-odd years of my life doing everything I could to hide myself. Talk to just about any queer person over the age of twenty-five, and they probably have a similar story. It wasn’t until my late teens that I started tottering toward self-acceptance. Unfortunately, my first relationship put this journey on…
-
Thoughts as I Finish My Dissertation
These days, the act of sitting down and writing a dissertation on an eight-hundred-year-old text feels absolutely absurd. I believe on some level that what I’m doing is important and in fact relevant—whatever that means. What is relevant these days? These days are dark; indeed, some of the darkest I have lived. A recent social…
-
Life in Bangor, Wales: Everything Closes by 5
I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales. Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows.…
-
Life in Bangor, Wales: Car-free Living
I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales. Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows.…
-
Life in Bangor, Wales: The Weather
I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales. Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows.…
-
Life in Bangor, Wales: Community Spirit
I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales. Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows.…
-
Conversation with Max, November 2015
Toward the end of 2015, I recorded a conversation with my adopted mom, Max, about her work helping to organize the response to the AIDS epidemic in Lansing, Michigan. I always rued not having saved a copy of the blog for myself. But look what I found digging through my inbox.