Your experiences matter.
It’s fitting that this line from J.R.R. Tolkien’s poem The Riddle of Strider from The Fellowship of the Ring is one of two of my favorite quotes. If you’ve never read or seen LOTR, Strider is actually the kind of Gondor, but he appears to be a Ranger. The poem is primarily about looking past… Continue reading Not all those who wander are lost: another trip
A few years ago I started blogging and journaling what I was taking with me into the new year, and what I was leaving behind. In past years, I've left fear. In some years, I brought it with me into a new year by accident. I've brought bravery, writing, laughter. I brought baking and lifting… Continue reading Take it or leave it
To say I'm feeling relieved after finishing my second semester is an understatement. I'm happy that I have no more math-based courses in my future, and that is part of my relief. I like the process of math, and the application of data to programming, but I didn't enjoy calculating statistics and learning software codes.… Continue reading 5 Things That Helped This Semester
One thing I love that a lot of poets do on the open mic is declare that they're performing new shit. If life is a stage, then I would've said it every day last year. Something that I'm coming to terms with - almost a year later, is how significant the transitions I've gone through… Continue reading Traveling Man: Everything is new, – new therapist, new job, new routine
When the morning is quiet I hear everything. I used to hate this, now it only kind of annoys me. The fridge is humming. The water is shifting in the pipes. Birds are outside. My pulse in my ear sounds like the ocean. My breathing - sometimes steady, sometimes sounding forced, but not quite like… Continue reading Traveling Man: Toss it in the dumpster and light it on fire
I've deleted this post a few times. I’ve been writing it for about a month. At one point it was 500 words - I had punched in out in 10 minutes and then sat back and thought, no, this isn't what I want to say. That happens from time to time. Maybe it's because the… Continue reading Traveling Man: Growth, Resiliency and Identity
No one’s body is your damn business unless you were truly invited in to that conversation. Let me explain. While I may share with you about overall health and stress and exercise and nutrition - this is not an invitation to comment on my body. When you’re out with others and you notice that they… Continue reading Traveling Man: You don’t have to like my body, I do – and some days that’s still hard
Imagine a seesaw, or a teeter totter. When two people sit at each side and there's an uneven weight distribution you see the fluctuations pretty easily. And if you're like me and you went on the teeter totter with your sister who's six years older than you and much bigger than you, you probably remember… Continue reading Traveling Man: Burning toxic positivity
I'm in the dark looking at the stars from my backseat window. I noticed lights from plane flying above a little while ago. I'm looking out the hatch and can see lights from the town miles away. The sky is so clear. Maybe it’s being in the mountains, maybe it just tonight, but I don't… Continue reading Traveling Man: 100 miles
It's been almost 5 months since I sat down and wrote a blog post. I don't know where that time went. Like, I do, but I don't. I know that there are many of you who feel the same way. It's not just that the pandemic has played a role in your perception of time,… Continue reading Traveling Man: A new book