Hug A Tree, Or, Everything Is Always Changing
I learned Ruth Bader Ginsburg died while I was standing outside LAX, just back from my first flight since March 12 and waiting for the annoying LAX-it shuttle to the Uber lot. A friend simply texted, “RBG. Fuck” before I received a series of similar texts with just the single word. This gutting news came … Continue reading Hug A Tree, Or, Everything Is Always Changing →
The Big Idea
If there is one big idea I have really spent the year interrogating and emphasizing through my work this year, whether it’s my book (which is about capitalist-driven definitions of beauty that drive an endless cycle and competition toward unachievable standards), or through my newish social science and parenting podcast, Labor, it’s about the fallacy … Continue reading The Big Idea →
Goodbye Rubens Avenue
Our backyard is home to a guava tree, which gifted us with guava abundance the first fall we lived in LA. And it turns out we have an avocado tree, too, which delivered perfect avocados on Christmas morning last year. And at some point I learned we had two tall banana trees, which led to … Continue reading Goodbye Rubens Avenue →
Online School For Small Children, A Poem
To the parent or guardian of Student Know this address, as it serves as the gateway to Schoology Google Apps Edgenuity Benchmark Zoom And other tools used by your child’s school Activate and access accounts to ensure readiness when learning begins The PIN will be mailed to you in a separate letter in the coming … Continue reading Online School For Small Children, A Poem →
Hotels For The Homeless
When we landed back in America in August 2018 and I walked around our Venice neighborhood, what struck me was the astonishing number of homeless folks on sidewalks and in tent encampments. The stark income divide seemed unfathomable — just to rent the Airbnb in that neighborhood cost $10,000 a month. Los Angeles County counts … Continue reading Hotels For The Homeless →
Things I’ve Done While Quarantined, A List
Gulped down my vitamins with vodka Wiped my own snot onto my shirt sleeve Wore Sunday Funday shirt on Tuesdays, and Thursdays, but who knows which day it was, ever Accidentally showed up a day early for someone’s surprise birthday parade Finally hung that one framed picture Organized little plastic baggies of toiletries plus money … Continue reading Things I’ve Done While Quarantined, A List →
Back On The Streets
They use the term “the streets” as a catch-all for beat reporters who “work them,” but you don’t actually have to be ON the streets for it. But this week for reporting with my latest new employer, VICE, we were literally on the streets of Santa Monica and Venice, with the homeless. The official number … Continue reading Back On The Streets →
Semi-Reopening Life
COVID life has lingered long enough now that I can’t remember The Before, or BC (before COVID). School let out for the “summer” but what does that mean, when school let out in March, really? And what is a summer without vacations or camps or any summertime rituals we’re used to? The girls didn’t join … Continue reading Semi-Reopening Life →
Ten*
“Love is something ideal, marrying is something real, and no one ever confuses the ideal with the real without being punished for it.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, c. 1823 Today is our tenth wedding anniversary. And we’re in our sixteenth year of love and friendship. In reflecting on this milestone, I’ll start with a moment … Continue reading Ten* →
I Wrote Everywhere, Man
(A fuller, edited version of this post appears on npr.org) On the first day, I wrote to folks in Santa Ana CA, Austin, St. Louis, Flushing NY, Spokane Valley and Tucson. On the next day I wrote to an 11-year old who was born in Plano, where I grew up. I wrote to a USPS … Continue reading I Wrote Everywhere, Man →
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