July 8th, 2024 What if we encouraged children to be kind and caring instead of conditioning them to be shrewd business-people? I thought about this as we drove past a 50-cent lemonade stand the other day. I can usually have good conversations and constructive arguments with people, except when they’ve been brainwashed about a fewContinue reading “Milk Milk Lemonade”
Tag Archives: Worth
phony
June 10th, 2024 Last week, some guy called me a phony. The details don’t matter. Personally, I feel like his assessment was incomplete and under-researched, a woefully short-sighted review. But it’s funny how certain words and sentiments can get to us, so deep under our skin we can’t scratch it, regardless of whether the personContinue reading “phony”
When we meet again in the dark
May 1st, 2024 It’s natural to reflect on your birthday. It’s natural to daydream about your earliest moments, lying on coarse carpet, following the sunlight as it sings through the tiny glass prism your mom hung in the window, leaving stains of every color in the palm of your hand; it’s natural to anxiously dwellContinue reading “When we meet again in the dark”
A History of Losing My Shirt
August 26th, 2023 “Hot like wasabi when I bust rhymesBig like LaAnn RimesBecause I’m all about value” – Ancient 1990’s proverb In recovery, I live by the mantra “Progress, not perfection”; as I study karate, I’ve learned that its true goal is “the perfection of character.” These are not mutually exclusive principles. I’m dealing withContinue reading “A History of Losing My Shirt”
FIGHT!
August 21st, 2023 I look like an idiot. I haven’t been on my usual bullshit lately, writing about my messy emotions or mental health, or about politics or the climate or philosophy or grief or sobriety. It’s not that I don’t think about these things anymore; they’re all I think about, the things that keepContinue reading “FIGHT!”
The Weirdos, Part I: The Flying Squirrel
August 7th, 2023 It’s no secret that Ashley Maypole, the main character of my comic The Flying Squirrel, is the Weirdo most like me. He’s an alcoholic comic book writer with Imposter Syndrome and an unhealthy obsession with squirrels. He has a son and a Boston Terrier and a best friend who looks a lotContinue reading “The Weirdos, Part I: The Flying Squirrel”
“Faribault famous”
August 2nd, 2023 I did a neat thing last week and it’s out today: the Faribault Daily News published a feature on me + my life + my work! You can check it out on their website at faribault dot com and of course I have some behind-the-scenes tea for you! – Pam and IContinue reading ““Faribault famous””
the graetness of being human
July 10th, 2023 “Every night you make somebody’s day.” I can’t easily explain why I’m still in the restaurant business after all these years. There are the reasons I keep freely between my fingers like playing cards, displaying them when people ask me to show them a magic trick. As a writer who makes veryContinue reading “the graetness of being human”
Bad Brains + Bad Hearts
July 1st, 2023 The world lately has me feeling a kind of sick, and I’ve been having to remind myself of a lesson I learned early in sobriety. When I got better, my first instinct was to help everyone else get better, too. It’s not a bad instinct, but it’s a naïve one, and itContinue reading “Bad Brains + Bad Hearts”
How To Be Kind & Think For Yourself
June 7th, 2023 I was going to write about something else today, but Elliot Page has a new book coming out and I’ve been watching his insightful interviews and I want to talk about how we decide to be decent people. Sometimes, more than often than I’d hope, somebody around me will say something disrespectfulContinue reading “How To Be Kind & Think For Yourself”
The Den 