On Friday, we voted. It was raining, it was cold, but there was still a tentative feeling of hope in the air. The line at City Hall was long but everyone looked...determined. In a roll up your sleeves, Let's Do This kind of way.
The thing about voting is that the actual act itself — once over —...
My friend Natalie Nixon joined me for a quick visit, a little grub, and a new introduction last night. Inside secret: along with an imaginary Instagram account (of epic proportions), we also create imaginary graphic t-shirts from the best things we hear everyday. Words from Marian Wright Edelman (through Nat's voice last night) were immediately (mentally?) added to our...
The U.P. of Michigan is a wild, beautiful place. I spent a childhood with unlocked doors, and “sneaking” onto private beaches for morning runs (Hi, Mrs. Retaskie), and mosquito bites and smelt runs and a healthy fear of The Great Lakes during a storm.
It is a conservative country, where guns are important…but so are the lakes. When we...
Pax is lounging back in his chair, glasses on, ear buds in, eyeing the screen critically. He’s on a Zoom call with his science class. Suddenly, he leans forward and hits unmute. “Question: can the animal be magical?” His little face is serious, listening. After a few seconds he nods, “Yes. Thank you.” He then hits ‘mute,’ and leans back...
One of our team meetings this week was horribly unproductive. We were all distracted by the Breonna Taylor decision and feeling sad, angry…helpless. Figuring that we weren’t alone, we researched a few ways to channel those helpless feelings into action, and Syd wrote them up here.
Of course, Facebook erupted. There were the usual (tiresome) cries of “stick to fashion!” and “stop...
I've been doom scrolling a lot lately. I open any social media app on my phone and get two posts in before I see something that makes my stomach turn. Then I keep scrolling in hopes that something better, something good, something that's not horrifying will show up on my feed. Eventually something breaks my focus on my phone,...
“Well,” Pax said. “Today I learned that if I blow out of my mouth as HARD as I CAN while covering my mouth -- LIKE THIS” -- here he demonstrates, blowing his cheeks out, hand-over-mouth, face red, “then my cheeks really hurt. Like…WHOA.”
Is virtual school going better for Pax?
You tell me.
I’ll admit, though, it’s been a treat, watching...
Gang, I'd been looking all over for cool vote tees and/or hoodies when I stumbled across Levi's customizable section. They offer a ton of ready-made graphics that you can simply customize with words. There are Levi's logos, of course, and (inexplicably) Snoopy graphics (wha??), but there are also pride flags and -- new for Fall 2020 -- graphics perfect...
We kicked this past week off with a 16 hour drive Michigan. While we started out strong...after popping into a rest stop in Western PA ('COVID country' says Mike) and finding it packed with un-masked people...we decided that we'd just try to drive straight through, only stopping for gas.
My city boys were not impressed with peeing on the side...
It’s shortly after curfew, and we’re eating dinner. From the balcony, we can see the people on the trail. They are walking, exercising, going somewhere, leaving somewhere. The trail runs under the expressway. Like the river, it is lower than its surroundings. The People Under The City, I think. The trail runs along the river, next to the railroad....