Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #80: Things — A few places exist where pictures are not actually worth a thousand words, because those words aren’t adequate. Places so vast, so awe-inspiring and beautiful and daunting, and I don’t even know what else to say. These places recharge our souls and encourage our passions. They remind us that there…

Fifty Word Challenge #96: Shit — Sometimes I sit staring at the half-finished document in front of me and wonder what’s the point. No one’s even reading what I create. But then I put on a favorite album I’ve listened to for nearly thirty years, by an obscure, long-extinct band, and I keep writing. Remember Naked…

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #73: Enough I used to define myself as a Kantian deontologist. But what happens when everyone else breaks the rules? What happens when being the prodigal son gets more clicks than keeping your head down, following the rules and quietly doing what needs to be done? …

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #71: Fix It — My whole block is invested in my homesteading attempts. The neighbor across the street marvels at how much I grow. I offer to help her till a garden. “No. I had one, once. I’m too lazy now.” The kids next door love petting my chickens. The psychotic guy across the…

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #61: Elaborate — New teacher me: “Please don’t eat in the classroom.” Seasoned veteran teacher me: “If you eat in here, you’ll get crumbs on the floor. The janitors don’t sweep every night, and we’ll get bugs. You put your bags on the floor, and the bugs will crawl in. When you take…

Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #54: Impulse Control — One night I looked out my window at a neighbor’s bonfire only to realize it was on their roof. (Nothing, short of police raids, brings neighbors together like watching a house burn.) My backyard’s too small for my ambitions; there’s only so much room for fruit trees and zucchinis and…