The Triumph of Never Growing Old and the Spirit of Never Giving Up

January 10th, 2023 “Dennis, Steve and I think you will be as great as Walt Disney but you need to know all the big WORDS! We hope this will help. Be creative?” – Inscription from a thesaurus I received in the early 90’s, from my Aunt Jan and Uncle Steve My obsession with Walt DisneyContinue reading “The Triumph of Never Growing Old and the Spirit of Never Giving Up”

Splish Splash

January 6th, 2023 I grew up taking baths. This is a weird way to start an essay, but I’m going somewhere with it. Our first house in Minneapolis had a tub (pictured here). The A-frame in East Bethel had a tub (which was disgusting, like the rest of the place). And when we moved toContinue reading “Splish Splash”

SKP 2023: Origins

January 2nd, 2023 Happy new year, friends. I decided to start this month on the second to give you all a day off from my bullshit. Every month this year I’ll be sharing posts based on a theme, with most of those themes being a creative project of mine. January’s theme is simple: origins. MyContinue reading “SKP 2023: Origins”

Sleeping Kitty Productions 2023

December 31st, 2022 Hello there. 2023 is a big year, as far as celebrating my (lack of a) creative career goes. It marks both 10 years of publishing books (a novella called Them, on April 1st, 2013), and 20 years since I released my first EP under the name The Next Step (Tangled Cords, onContinue reading “Sleeping Kitty Productions 2023”

Take A Picture

December 30th, 2022 I can’t get over this photo. It might be my favorite one of her. So, we made it? We survived another year? Survival is subjective, and not everyone makes it out alive, including the live ones. Parts of us we used to find essential rust or fade away; we discover new partsContinue reading “Take A Picture”

One Last Thing

December 24th, 2022 Tomorrow is a last thing and this time of year brings up a lot of last things. The last time she made the thing you love. The last time she laughed at one of your jokes, and you laughed at her laugh. The last time you sat next to her at theContinue reading “One Last Thing”

The History of Sleeping Kitty Productions, Part I

December 23rd, 2022 “Why the sleeping cat?” There are questions I have been asked more than most others, and this is one of them. For as long as I’ve been releasing my work into the wild, I’ve been flying the banner of Sleeping Kitty Productions over, under and through it. It’s the name of myContinue reading “The History of Sleeping Kitty Productions, Part I”

Kevin Conroy, Batman

November 14th, 2022 Kevin Conroy passed away on November 10th, 2022. For many people, he was known as the voice of Batman. For some of us, he simply was Batman. It’s odd, because last month I started a series of essays about Halloween costumes I’d worn as a kid, and what those characters meant toContinue reading “Kevin Conroy, Batman”

The Characters Who Inspired Me, Part 2

October 20th, 2022 For the second installment of my Halloween series, let’s take a closer look at Steven Quincy Urkel. First things first: can we just give my mom a massive round of applause for acknowledging that her white boy loved Steve Urkel but also understood that he did not need to look EXACTLY likeContinue reading “The Characters Who Inspired Me, Part 2”

The Characters That Inspired Me, Part 1

October 17th, 2022 On hard days, people will remind you to think of the good memories, and my pockets are full of those. A lot of those memories revolve around Halloween. My mom loved to see what characters inspired me, and it inspired her own creativity every year when I inevitably asked her to craftContinue reading “The Characters That Inspired Me, Part 1”