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No essay this week due to extroversion


Hi friends, 

I'm currently in Akron, Pennsylvania for a church-related meeting, and I have been extroverting hard for two days. I had free time this afternoon where I intended to…

Cat Essay part 2- The Kitten Room

NB: This is the first draft of the second part of a five-part essay I'm writing for a creative nonfiction class you guys paid for me to take. You can…

In which I solicit advice from my membership team


Hey y'all!

As people who support, both economically and emotionally, my work, I'd like your opinion on what is, fundamentally, a business decision.

Before I ask, a thing to keep…

The cat essay - part 1

I'm taking another class (which you guys paid for - thank you!) on creative nonfiction writing, and an assignment is to write a longish essay in five sections. I'll be…

How are you doing?

During the height of the pandemic, I would start letters occasionally with the question, "How are you doing?"

And then I would follow it with, "Really, I mean it. How…

Waiting

They were retired farmers, but now lived in a small house on 3 acres we had sold them for $300. According to my grandmother, the best deal she ever made…

The Delta

Two pieces of housekeeping: Some folks have asked after the kittens - They are doing much better! Their eyesight is better, and it looks like they will all have sight…

Three blind kittens


They are basically helpless, being five weeks old, blind and weighing less than a pound each. They also have a respiratory infection, and thus can't smell where the food is…

The Southern Institute For Peace

Hey y’all. 

It’s August, and hotter than Satan’s armpit outside today, so I’m taking advantage of the air conditioning to bring y’all up to date on what’s going on in…

Muscadines in August

I made muscadine jelly this week. It holds many memories for me, and so I thought I would tell you about it. This piece is long - it needs to…

The new photo

I had most of an essay done, and planned to finish it up this morning. But then I got distracted, and decided to just tell you about what I was…

Common Ground

Hey y'all!

A couple of quick notes:

I have a contract! Effective last Monday, I am now the the Interim Director for a regional nonprofit that works to end inequity…

There are no 12 steps for this.

I have lived with depression my entire life. 

When I was a kid, we didn’t call it depression. Instead, we said I was a moody child. That I was “in…

On the road again.

Hi friends,

Just a note of apology that I am on the road this weekend, coming home from the Mennonite Church USA Delegate Conference, and don't have the available time…

The state of things

Hey y’all, 

It’s the 4th of July as I’m writing this. My neighborhood is having a thing later this morning (I love that I live in a neighborhood where we…

The tool chest of the proletariat.

When it comes to the sort of woodworking I like to do, there are broadly speaking, a couple of ways people store their tools. 

Some people hang their tools on…

The limits of my methodology

I have never been good at school. 

To be clear, I usually made good grades in school, but that was just my masking to meet their expectations. Many of us…

The jangle

It has been said that beggars cannot be choosers. As someone who worked among the unhoused community for nearly a decade and a half, I can assure you that whoever…

Community

Hey y'all - It's been a rough but generative spring so far. I have a lot going on, and I am running about like a man with my hair on…