February 23rd, 2021 Despite everything, there is something magical about that first inhale of near-spring air after a seemingly infinite span of bitter cold. I’m not a person who believes that suffering makes a human better. I think that I will always struggle to varying degrees from the pain that I’ve been through and theContinue reading “Permission to Breathe”
Author Archives: dennisvogen
Boldly, With Love
February 20th, 2021 There is something about a direct kind of love that is irreplaceable. Last winter, I bought this long-sleeve shirt. One of the first times I wore it was at a convention in Hastings, the very last one my mom came to. She looked at my shirt and told me how beautiful sheContinue reading “Boldly, With Love”
Filter
February 19th, 2021 I am a tool. I’ve finally finished curating the essays I’m going to include in my upcoming collection, Time is a Solid State. I’ve received so many nice comments and messages from people who appreciate my writing, and reading my work from the past five years as a whole like this allowsContinue reading “Filter”
3 Simple Rules For Talking To God
February 16th, 2021 The lectures of William James have probably affected my life more than anything I have ever read. His pre-1900 thoughts on religion — the ideas of religion, the science of religion — have had an irreversible effect on how I see the world, secular or otherwise. In one of my favorite sections,Continue reading “3 Simple Rules For Talking To God”
This House
February 15th, 2021 There’s this house. Not the house in this photo. Not any of the houses I grew up in. The house that I am. The older I get, the less the rooms make sense, and the more rooms I find there are. One day, I’m dusting a flawless hanging light fixture. The next,Continue reading “This House”
belly rub
February 13th, 2021 Of the many admirable qualities in a dog, their ability to truly live in the moment might be the one I’m most envious of. This morning I was giving this girl a belly rub and I just marveled at her focused appreciation. She gratefully reacted to every scratch and snuggle, never onceContinue reading “belly rub”
Hunger
February 10th, 2021 A Broaster made me cry today. Let me go back. So I was driving down to Faribault this morning and thinking about an episode of I Love Lucy. In this episode, Lucy and Ethel work as inspectors in a chocolate factory. At first, they’re doing just fine, focusing on each piece asContinue reading “Hunger”
Non-Fiction Suit
February 8th, 2021 August 3rd, 2018, RiverCentre, Downtown St. Paul. I was there at Fan Fusion, which wasn’t my first comic convention ever, but my first comic convention as a real comic book creator. I had written, drawn, and produced my debut issue, The Flying Squirrel #1, with a plan for a 5-issue series IContinue reading “Non-Fiction Suit”
Solid News
February 5th, 2021 It’s about time. I had mentioned earlier this year that since I started truly blogging and writing digital essays, I had scribbled and typed more than 60,000 words over the past few years. That’s a lot of words. That’s a novel amount of words. These posts are easily what I get theContinue reading “Solid News”
The Enemy of my Enemy is Me
February 1st, 2021 “To fight the empire is to be infected by its derangement . . . Whoever defeats part of the empire becomes the empire; it proliferates like a virus . . . Thereby it becomes its enemies.” – Phillip K. Dick I didn’t know how it phrase it as eloquently as Dick, butContinue reading “The Enemy of my Enemy is Me”
The Den 