We had always driven out there. A two-day road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a regular, biannual pilgrimage for me and my family to visit my dad’s parents and siblings. However,... read more
Supposedly, there is a law stating that every word in the Icelandic language must contain at least one acute accent, indicating an elongated or emphasized vowel. I’m not sure how well this information... read more
As I writing these words, I’m sitting in a small aluminum tube about 38,000 feet above the frigid waters of the Pacific—where I’m sure that if we crash I will not only die... read more
My fingers wind their way into my earbud cord, faded bluish and dreamlike in the dim glow of the seatback screen. Wrapping the black wire around my thumb, over and over, around and... read more
The only time I’ve ever eaten McDonald’s without feeling guilt was in the Denver Airport. I was hungry. The hash browns were good. Who cares about deforestation before 6am?
My brother, parents, grandparents, and... read more
I watch as the man chews. He chews big, big, big and then tiny (chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp). He bites into the gooey cheese sandwich, jaws locking and popping as he tries to... read more
I am overweight. Since childhood, size has defined me. Teased, tormented and taunted as a kid because of my butt and belly, adulthood and obesity presents a unique set of problems. One of... read more
Each summer when I was a child, my sister and I would fly 3,000 miles across the country to visit a place my mother was trying to forget. We drove from our home... read more
I was on a diet...again. So when I got on the airplane in Portland to fly to Sacramento, I brought a salad.
When I reached the security checkpoint, the guard said, soberly, "We'll have... read more
