The Reconstruction of Beauty
This is written to remind. Because some things are worth remembering. And some things I’ll never forget. Like her lips, soft as French Merlot after a hard day at the office, pink as a sun-baked horizon drunk off an afternoon rain. Or her eyes, green and round as grapes in the morning light. Or her arms, like a good nights sleep embracing...
Methamphetamine Chili
So we’re clear, what follows is a fictional story. Methamphetamine Chili * * * Chili goes down fast and easy when it’s negative five degrees outside. And in the Midwest, chili is methamphetamine, sardonic soup composed of everything from battery acid to cough syrup to gasoline to freshly extracted kitten intestines. And a thousand...
Playground Love — A Short Essay on Young Rel...
* * * My first real girlfriend broke up with me via email. The subject line read, “Sorry, I can’t do this anymore…Loser.” Or something like that. And maybe my memory’s a bit harsh as to the exact title of that email due to years spent mentally tidying up that trashy semester, but I guess that’s just the way I remember...
Life, Love, God & The Nuclear Mess Between
* * * In The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a 3-year-old girl is crying. She’s sad beyond words and hurting beyond pain because earlier that same day a man broke into her house, killed her parents, kidnapped her brother and brutally raped her. She was left for dead on the dirt floor of her own home. Three-year-old rape victims exist....
Album of the Year {2011}: Love & War & T...
This past summer my friend Lee sent an email updating Quinn and I on life in California. At the end of his email he left this note: Listen to our friend’s wonderful expression of hope and leaning into God amidst adversity. These words have been an important expression for me during times when I have no expression to give – and I...
Published!
I was recently published in the October issue of LiveBetter Magazine! Check out my column on the water crisis in Mozambique here! A big thanks to Africa Water is Life for taking me along as photographer and story collector to Mozambique last January and to Jessica Kiefer at Bohlsen PR for working to get us in and to LiveBetter for taking a...
Moments With My Grandparents — Lake Photo ed...
My grandparents house is a special place. Besides my childhood home, no other location holds more precious memories. Of course, it wasn’t the house or the lake which allowed such freedom from worry and showed such tremendous love during my early summers–it was my grandparents. It didn’t matter that their lake wasn’t...
Does Education Kill Creativity?
Creativity, in the midst of long lectures, tedious projects, and sleepless nights spent pouring over illegible notes, takes a solid hit to the teeth during our formal years of higher education. It’s easy to conclude that the education system itself squanders the best of our creative efforts by forcing us into patterns of rote...
Juan and Diana Are Married! — Colombian Wedd...
Quinn and I recently got to go to Medellín, Colombia, for the wedding of Juan and Diana. It was truly a trip of a lifetime and a wedding we will never forget. Medellín is a beautiful city full of beautiful and intriguing people and it was so much fun reuniting with family and friends and being a part of their big day. Congrats Juan and...
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