This is a place where I can think out loud, work through ideas, and talk about stuff that doesn't fit cleanly into the type of freelance writing I do. Some ideas will be fully formed, others, as the title implies, will be unfinished.
Feel So Different, Remembering Sinead O'Connor and Pee-Wee Herman
2023 was a lot of hard things, but losing Sinead O'Connor and Pee-Wee Herman within a few days of each other felt especially cruel. At the tail end of a difficult year I wrote a small offering to the mystic and man-child that meant so much to those of us that grew up different.
Published on December 28, 2023
A Man You Don't Meet Every Day, Remembering Shane MacGowan
I thought Shane MacGowan was unkillable. If he hadn't died by now, the logic went, with all the drinking and drugs and living harder than most, maybe he never would. HBut, of course, he did.
Published on November 30, 2023
When I was younger I tried to build artist/musician/weirdo Laurie Anderson's tape-bow violin from a single sentence description. While I never got it to work quite right, it taught me everything I know about asking "why."
Published on November 3, 2023
I wrote some thoughts on the lonely year that has transpired since Elon Musk took over Twitter.
Published on October 26, 2023
It's been a minute since I last updated my blog. But that hasn't been because I haven't been doing stuff. In fact, quite the opposite.
Published on July 11, 2023
Every job I've ever stuck with, I've done so because it's felt like a never-ending series of puzzles to solve.
Published on May 11, 2023
Today I'm excited to announce the start of a wholly new, super ambitious project in collaboration with the novelist Joe Meno. Welcome to Question Mark, Ohio.
Published on April 21, 2023
I've had better months than March 2023, but now that it's basically over I thought I'd take take stock of some of the good work I got done amid the awfulness.
Published on March 30, 2023
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We're living through the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore, while the government stomps its uncaring boot on our necks.
Published on May 23, 2025
A post about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails.
Published on Feb 23, 2025
ICE has been cracking down on Chicago, and I wrote a little bit about what you need to understand about what it's like here in late October. Plus, I compiled some resources for alerts and whistles.
Published on Oct 24, 2025
During this long, hot, difficult summer I took a trip to a huge video game arcade and ended up completely in love with the art of the game marquee.
Published on Aug 1, 2025
In Chicago, whistles proved to be a super effective alert system when ICE is near. With these goons spreading out across the country, I wanted to put together a resource guide for buying, printing, and distributing whistles. I wrote as full a brain dump as I could muster. Whistle up.
Published on Nov 21, 2025