How are you?

Lately, I’ve had some form of this conversation several times a week: Hello! Hello! How are you? Good! How are you? Pretty good. Or, you know, good considering…everything. [chuckle] Oh yes, me too — fine considering it all. Usually, this is the preamble to whatever the meat of our conversation will be. But a few […]

Plant wisdom

Usually, summer is the season for hiking, weddings, family vacations, and neglecting my houseplants and backyard. I’m used to coming home after 10 days away to parched calathea and a lawn full of dandelions. But this year, being home all the time means I am taking special care of my plant friends, because what does […]

What Didn’t Happen

The most tired joke of 2020, besides some variation of “has anyone tried turning it off and then turning it back on again,” is that time isn’t real. That’s because it’s not a joke, and also because I am very tired. I know I am extremely fortunate to work from home, yet I am also […]

The questionable ethics of Animal Crossing

The world feels more dizzying every day. Last weekend, I sat in front of my computer, scrolling through article after article detailing massive societal problems: police brutality and system racism; this pandemic; another pandemic brewing in pigs?; rising sea levels; corrupt government officials and what appears to be the sun setting on democracy. Welp, I […]

Truth Hurts

This week, as protesters have taken to the streets to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people murdered at the hands of the police, local bail funds have been inundated with donations. One of my favorite tweets calling for people to take action: An earlier version of that sentiment appealed […]

2035

It’s a cliché in art to have a sudden burst of inspiration. I was just looking at the bird, and boom, the poem just…came to me! Or, I was scuba-diving off the coast of Fiji and I couldn’t believe it — the song just wrote itself! I think of that quote from Anne Lamott’s Bird […]

Accidental closeness

A couple weeks ago (or the other day, I’m not sure which since time all blends together now), I put a cup of sugar out for a neighbor who complained she couldn’t find any at the store. As I turned to go inside, I saw our mail carrier walking up the flight of stairs between […]

Rewilding

The afternoon Seattle schools closed, I sat at my desk, pretending to work as if our society weren’t being turned upside down. When I looked outside, I saw a gaggle of girls in private school uniforms. This is normal; I often see kids on my street walking home from school and to one another’s houses, […]