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.
I wrote about getting wrapped up in British football, about the poison in the brain of every 90s punk kid, and about embracing change.
Published on January 22, 2023
I've been trying my whole life. These last few years I found that I'd stopped.
Published on January 14, 2023
Lately I've been thinking about sad songs and the stories from our lives that resonate between the notes. It made me revisit a work-in-progress about the end of Punk Planet and the saddest song I know.
Published on January 7, 2023
I See Reflections of You and Me
With the start of a new year, I thought I'd share my journaling method and how using it to reflect on days, months, and years has helped me to (kinda sorta) get my shit together.
Published on January 3, 2023
2022 was a middling year in a lot of ways, a shitty year in others, and a great year for culture. Here's 5 things I loved this year.
Published on December 31, 2022
I have friends with hobbies. Friends who do pottery, who take pictures, who go hiking, who make scarves and tables. I've always kind of wanted a hobby, but they've never stuck. Instead, I work. Honestly, I love it and it's gratifying to look back at the work I did this year.
Published on December 29, 2022
Someday you, and all you put your hand to, will turn golden
Today my pal Maureen Johnson releases her latest novel and I reflect on what it means to want the very best for the people you care about.
Published on December 27, 2022
Everything Gets Brighter From Here
It's bitter cold, my kids are home doing school on Zoom, and I'm feeling oddly optimistic. Weird, I know. Here are three things that are contributing to that for me.
Published on December 23, 2022
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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
With the Trump Administration about to roll its ugly occupation into Chicago, I wanted to write a little lyrical love letter to the city.
Published on Sep 5, 2025