Even small victories deserve celebrations. In that spirit my coworker-for-the-day, Jenna Freimuth, hit the play button and the sweet sounds of Harry Belafonte rolled out of the Bluetooth speaker on the shelf. Within seconds we were doing our own version of “shake, shake, shake senora” as his lyrics serenaded our celebration. It took an hour […]

I’m a writer. Not in the romantic notion where people talk about a child so gifted that words flowed magically out of her and onto the page, but in the hard-earned way where I spent evenings in high school embroiled in class paper critiques with my mom, or hours on the couch in college rubbing my face […]

It’s 6 a.m. and the licking won’t stop. With the buzz of my alarm, Harlow is on me. My dog, who laid in wait beside my side all night, springs into action at the sound without a moment to waste. It’s a get-up-or-be-licked-into-submission morning, every morning at my house. Coming up on four years old, […]

I stared at the brushstrokes. Rich hues of brick red, burnt umber and muddy orange flowed next to each other on the canvas. I took a step back from the painting to take it all in at once. Something I created. Hours spent breathing in toxic fumes of oil paint supplies — odorless mineral spirits, […]

We are imposters gliding over water. Sporting polarized sunglasses and rods that extend our reach beyond normal confines. The boat speeds toward a single destination marked by a dot on the map. As we race along, the lake spread in front of us doesn’t look real anymore. Too smooth. Too flat. Like a stylized rendition […]

“Stop the car.” Putting his foot on the brake, my dad maneuvered our vehicle off the curving highway and onto the piece of pavement jutting off to the side and flanked by a wooden railing. Another scenic overlook on Needles Highway demanded my attention. I felt the need to snap a few photos to try […]

Taking his foot off the gas, John Hooper — or as my family had taken to calling him, Farmer John — slowed down and peered over the edge of the vehicle. “Oh no, that’s a bad sign,” he murmured. I looked down at the gravel road. Three mounds of poop. That could only mean one […]