September 6th, 2022 Starting today, I’m going to be taking the rest of the month off from posting essays. I feel like you and I could use a break from each other, in a good way. I hope you’ll catch up on posts, if that’s your thing, or pick up some of my work andContinue reading “The Kind Monster”
Tag Archives: Trauma
Trauma Like Candy
August 25th, 2022 When I was growing up, my dad took us camping a lot. That meant a lot of s’mores, mosquito bites, boat rides, sunburns, worms pierced with hooks, hammocks, and campfires. On one particular trip, during elementary school break, I had become fascinated with the fire pit on the grounds. It was madeContinue reading “Trauma Like Candy”
I Am Not An Illusion
August 24th, 2022 Mystery is an amateur magic show. I get frequently asked why I tell people stuff on the internet. Like, the stuff you shouldn’t really tell people, the stuff people don’t talk about like I think they should, the stuff that is heavy or hard. I do it because I feel like weContinue reading “I Am Not An Illusion”
silly
August 15th, 2022 “As for its being silly, I don’t mind that. Sometimes it’s great fun to be silly, like children playing statues and dying of laughter. And sometimes being silly breaks the even pace and lets you get a new start.” – The Winter of Our Discontent Being silly is natural to me, butContinue reading “silly”
In Dreams: The Sandman, Flip, and Push
August 8th, 2022 I finished the first season of The Sandman on Netflix this afternoon. As a massive Sandman fan, for years, I personally think it is a better-than-perfect adaptation of the source material. I also want to add how well the series is cast; Tom Sturridge as Dream is the single best casting choiceContinue reading “In Dreams: The Sandman, Flip, and Push”
Everyone as Puzzles
August 5th, 2022 A life’s journey is puzzling. I’ve made that idea near-literal. When you’re in recovery and an open book, people love to ask you about the ugliest parts of your story. “So what was your rock bottom?” I have never been fully comfortable with that phrase, at least when it comes to howContinue reading “Everyone as Puzzles”
a squirrel, a reality star, and my addiction
July 14th, 2022 If you know me even a little, you know that I think pop culture is important, and that I use it to make sense of our existence. The following is an ambitious use of popular culture to explain behavior that is not popular at all, but I really hope you’ll follow. I’veContinue reading “a squirrel, a reality star, and my addiction”
Victim of Me
June 23rd, 2022 “You cannot heal in the same environment where you got sick.” What a full load of bullshit. But that phrase (or related ones) keeps popping up like a weed, in real life and the not-so-real life we know as the internet. This sentence perpetuates the idea that we cannot get better rightContinue reading “Victim of Me”
Cold World Goes Round
June 21st, 2022 Better than any kind of formal review, people are starting to tell me how they feel, and the thoughts they’ve been thinking, since reading Cold World, and the conversation so far has been outstanding. Thank you so much to those of you who have visited Earth two hundred years from now, enjoyedContinue reading “Cold World Goes Round”
Cold World is Here
June 2nd, 2022 Today is the day. I hope you’ll join me in giving a warm welcome to my eighth book, and my first full-length novel, Cold World. It is now officially for sale on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, and hardcover, and as a signed paperback on dennisvogen.com. I want to tell you everythingContinue reading “Cold World is Here”
The Den 