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Americans are the frog in the pot, part I: Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a weird place to call home. Today it’s all breweries and hipsters and weed dispensaries and overpriced apartments. But growing up, it was Bland Rapids. A place so boring and unimaginative that corporations would come to town to trial new products. If the straight-laced, God-fearing people of Grand Rapids, Michigan, will buy…
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The religion of getting
When I was 18, I worked as a barista. It wasn’t a bad job. But I will never forget the trainer, I’ll call him Sean, who—in addition to calling me a “PMS-y woman” during training—one day proclaimed, “I have the greatest job in the world.”
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Life in Bangor, Wales: The Weather
I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales. Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows.…
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Conversation with Max, November 2015
Toward the end of 2015, I recorded a conversation with my adopted mom, Max, about her work helping to organize the response to the AIDS epidemic in Lansing, Michigan. I always rued not having saved a copy of the blog for myself. But look what I found digging through my inbox.
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What next after Michigan Uncommitted campaign?
It’s the day after the 2024 Michigan primary. With 95% of the vote counted, more than 100,000 voters in the Michigan Democratic Primary have voted “Uncommitted” to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
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The road behind, and the road ahead
As I close in on two years since my Lake Superior Circle Tour, I take one more look back at the trip as a whole. In particular, what I would do differently the next time around—and what I would keep the same.
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Lake Superior Circle Tour, 2022: All good things must come to an end
More than a week into my circle tour around Lake Superior, I had experienced so much: a chance encounter with a fox, sunrise over Lake Superior, an ancient arctic canyon. Now, the road was leading back home to Michigan.