The Artist in Academia

The Artist in Academia

How did a semi anti-establishment, rule-thwarting, convention-trashing writer such as myself end up with an M.F.A. degree after six semesters in graduate school? It’s a puzzle, sometimes even to myself. I never believed whole-heartedly in the graduate of fine...
Language (and other barriers)!

Language (and other barriers)!

I am here in Paris without my passport. That’s right, the chronic loser of things has done it again, only this time with the single most important item on my person. How did this happen? Well, maybe it’s necessary to start from the beginning. Or, from the...
150 grams

150 grams

1. Keep it secret at first. Just don’t think about it. And you won’t, until it flicks and flaps in your stomach like panic. Like falling. Practice telling everything. Leak truth in emails. Cryptic hints like, “I’m having something biopsied.” Then, maybe, “a lump.” But...
Zen And The Art of Confidence

Zen And The Art of Confidence

Confidence isn’t the same as courage, although having the former helps to embody the latter. My friend, I’ll call him Sam, recently moved to San Francisco from Idaho, before which he lived in Chicago where we first met. We were friends for a while in Chicago before he...
Wiggling between my penis and sadness.

Wiggling between my penis and sadness.

Who knew Redwood trees – some of the oldest, largest, most imposing creatures in the world – could seem so fragile? I hiked in a Redwood forest last weekend with friends. What I noticed first was the unnatural blackness of charred trees and brush. “Has there been a...