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Meridian

Hey y'all,

It's the day after my birthday, and I'm in Meridian, MS in a bougie hotel downtown--the sort where you have to pay for your breakfast, and there is…

Birthdays, book events and podcasts.

Hi y'all. 

I always struggle to be open about my mental health stuff. It's not my inclination—I would much rather hide and listen to jazz and maybe read a book…

The Magnolia Tree (and a member-only sale)

Hey y'all.
 
I'm trying something new. I have a lot of things sitting around that I made that are not quite "good enough" to sell to the public. Maybe…

What I want to do.


Last night I was on a Zoom call with some folks, and I mentioned that when I was in high school in the late 80s, I wanted to be a…

There is no app for this

It's not there any more, but twenty years ago, there was a tobacco store on Madison Avenue in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. My friend Richard owned it, and he had bought…

F.I.N.E.


I'm not in recovery for any addiction issue. But I know a lot of people who are. 

For nearly a decade and a half I worked with lots of addicted…

Walking the grass


Hi friends.
A custom essay just for you today, mostly composed in my head yesterday while cutting the grass at church.

I was interviewed for
The Competent Pastor Podcast

A series of part time jobs

Hey y'all. 

I just wanted to pop a note in to apologize for two weeks in a row without an essay. There's just a lot going on, and while I'm…

Tiny joys

Hi all.

This is another piece for the new book. I'm picturing it having several long-form anchor essays, with a lot of 2-3 page short essays, similar to how I…

The little book of self-care

Hey y'all.
 
Since I almost died in 2017 from burnout, I have wished someone wrote a real-world self-care guide for people who did the front-line sort of work I…

I'm on the road this weekend.

Hi friends.

I'm in Newton Kansas this weekend, where I'm a board member for Mennonite Central Committee, Central States. We're doing good work here, but I'm going to be pretty…

Two things, twice.

Hey y'all.

I have a lot to do today, and I'm not in the best place mentally, so I'm taking the day off from creative writing. But I do have…