Hello, Sports Fans

It's difficult to have a bad morning when I pour my plant-based milk from a carton with Aly Raisman on the side. Bravo, Silk: this marketing maneuver changed my mind about soy... better luck next time, Almond Breeze

CPJ-7: A Brief, Optimistic Theory

My new theory is that I'm a valuable person and acting lazy couldn't change that. I still tell myself stories about what I did overseas, especially in Palestine. Up until last week I thought I was being pathetic, living in the past...

Wearing an N95 like a Cowboy Hat

I want to linger over this sequence: my hands are totally clean, my street clothes are covered, then the clothes over my clothes form a seal with brand new gloves and sleeves, and then (only then) I pick-up my N95.

Sign of the Stag

The stag assessed the situation: craned his neck, turned his head sideways and back again, shifted on his long sturdy legs, and swept the air for sounds of movement using huge, swiveling ears. As he did so, I noticed he had at least 12 points on his rack. I'd never seen a buck of that status wild in the woods.

Kelly Clarkson’s Prophesies

Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" started playing on the radio next to one of the anti-contamination hoods (I've enjoyed juxtapositions like that). Kelly's words were my reassurance, or as close as I could get. My supervisor had just delivered the news: corporate is downsizing her team, my last day would be the 25th.

Surveying the Mountains’ Tops

I wanted to find an answer for myself-- assumed everything would feel better when I could speak an answer without doubts. I probed the voids between stars billions of years old ... Orders of magnitude: 20 years to grow a person, 20,000 accreting a dune, 200,000,000+ to mold and mill-away mountains, 2 billion and more collecting gas into stars. Why? Why anything?

They’ Could Make it Work

The only way I felt comfortable breaking my silence about 'they' was if I found a solution that promised never to hurt nonbinary people but, importantly, I could use to stop the progressive bandwagon from hurtling over a cliff into a snarky abyss. I was taking a shower when it dawned on me. For several minutes I laughed incredulously. This is not a solution that makes me look sophisticated...