Category: Random

Me talkin to myself

  • Of course I would read The Hour of My Death, the newest and possibly final work by Marge Piercy. Her 1980 collection of poetry The Moon Is Always Female is the single thing my first lover gave me that I kept after that relationship went down in flames. I still have it. The yearlong journal…

  • What are you saving for winter?

    My strategy is working. Last year after visiting Stockholm and learning about this “cozy winter” vibe they espouse, I decided to give it a try. Stockholm has long cold winters. Eugene, Oregon has mild, rainy, medium-length winters. My first winter in Oregon—after a decade in Anchorage—I thought I’d died and come to heaven. No snow,…

  • In praise of the forced pause

    An electric vehicle changes everything about a road trip. I’m a deep believer in flying down the highway at 60 mph. The momentum, the smacking rhythm of the tires, the small-town gas stations, the pee breaks in the sagebrush by the highway in the dark. There’s music in it, somehow. Alone in the car, my…