#46 / The King
Hey y’all, Did this feel like a very long week to anyone else? I was even lucky enough to have the day off work on Monday for Martin Luther King Day, and it...
#45 / Means Tested
Hey everyone, Sports!!! Patrick Mahomes II @PatrickMahomes #HenneThingIsPossible Jan. 17, 2021, 11:06 p.m. (I wanted to plug the Kansas City Chiefs’ big NFL...
#44 / Exploring the Depths
Hi everyone, I don’t have a whole lot to add to what you’ve probably already read about this week’s insurrection (what a strange thing to type). It also...
#43 / Un-erosion
Hi y’all, I hope you were all able to have a healthy, safe, reasonably fun New Year’s celebration, if it’s in your practice to celebrate the flipping of the...
#42 / The Ultimate Question
Hey everyone, Welcome to issue #42, the issue that will reveal the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything. It’s 42. Wait, dang...
#41 / Living the Question
Hey everyone, I cleaned out my coworking space today. We cancelled the lease on my desk earlier this month, which put me on the clock to move my stuff, but...
#40 / Self-Help, Part 3
Continued from Part 1 and Part 2… Mark Manson contends that there are two main kinds of people who are drawn to self-help material: those who see themselves...
#39 / Self-Help, Part 2
Hey everyone, It's Hanukkah this week (first night is Thursday)! Make sure to eat some latkes and sufganyot if you know what's good for you! (Okay, neither...
#38 / Self-Help, Part 1
Hey everyone, A note before we begin: The following is something I’ve been wanting to write about for a while, and as such, it’s a little longer than what I...
#37 / Mysteries To Me
Hey everyone, I haven’t told you yet about my quirky side project. I needed something to do that was purely for fun and had no rational purpose. Of course,...
#36 / Happy, Meaningful, and Rich
Hey y’all, We’ve had too many overcast days in a row. Normally I love this kind of brooding weather, but like anyone I don’t like to go too long without at...
#35 / The Spirit of the Depths
Hey y’all, Carl Jung made a distinction between “the spirit of the times” and “the spirit of the depths.” The spirit of the times is what is going on in the...
#34 / Rush Job
Hey everyone, Welcome to November! Goodbye to daylight savings time. Welcome, 4:30 PM darkness. Goodbye to... nope, I'm not going to jinx it. A friend asked...
#33 / It's Not Even Past
Hey everyone, It has been fun writing these newsletters every week, and I’ve been thinking more about how to expand my writing into doing longer pieces on a...
#32 / Don't Forget to Vote, Part 3
Hi everyone, We celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary this week! I’ve heard of the movie The Seven-Year Itch, but I didn’t know that there may be some...
#31 / Don't Forget To Vote, Part 2
I always knew two-day weekends were short, but they feel a lot shorter when your last “weekend” was 16 days long. Minnesota Northwoods Trip, Day 3 Tuesday...
#30 / Don't Forget To Vote
Hey y’all, I’m sure everyone is already aware of this, but I can confirm, once again, that vacations go by fast. Friday was the last day of our two weeks of...
#29 / Home Stretch
Hello from Wabasha, Minnesota! We are at the tail end of our week-long trip to the Minnesota Northwoods. This town is actually in the southwestern part of...
#28 / Out of Dodge
It’s happening! We are actually going out of town. We’ll be spending most of the next week in a cabin in northern Minnesota, near where the Boundary Waters...
#27 / Pollinator Edition
A writer friend kept mentioning the philosophy of Lichtenbergianism. Promising to help you utilize procrastination as a positive creative strategy, it...
#26 / Slow Your Roll
Hey everyone, What a relief! On Monday I went to my dermatologist first thing, to see about getting some answers to why I had itchy and painful red spots all...
#25 / Scratchin'
Hi everyone. Here’s what’s going on. So this is just going to be a quick update, because my skin’s kinda on fire right now. It’s not that I particularly want...
#24 / Rhythms of Life
Hey everyone, Fall is usually my favorite season, and I think it still is, but this is going to be a weird one. No Nebraska football. I’m in Chicago now, so...
#23 / Let's Talk About The Weather
Hey y’all, Does it feel like nothing in the world is going according to plan right now? Last week I promised that in my next email I would have pictures from...
#22 / Heart of the City
Hi, Next week I will have some cool pictures from the bird sanctuary and from Starved Rock State Park, but not this week. This week, once again, I did not go...
#21 / It's Just Your Expectations
Hey y’all, I’m going to keep this one shorter and lighter, both because last week’s was long and heavy, and because I’m feeling pretty tired. I have no bad...
#20 / Staying Afloat
Hey everyone, What do you do when one of your favorite authors writes a vicious take-down of another one of your favorite authors? Do you feel personally...
#19 / Peace Amidst The Shambles
Hey y’all, I’m working on a couple of essay-type pieces that I’m hoping to be able to share soon (he said convincingly), so this week I’ll highlight a...
#18 / One, But Not the Same
Hey everyone, Let’s just get the anticlimactic part out of the way: all of our baby caterpillars are gone. I’ve seen wasps buzzing around our milkweed all...
#17 / Bleed Into One
Hi everyone, When I decided to start this email newsletter, about 20 years ago, I was uncertain where it would lead. But one thing that I do know for...
#16 / The Good Old Days
Hey everyone, Bad news on the caterpillar front. Well, it’s news, anyway—I’m practicing not ascribing value judgments. Our last caterpillar has left home. He...
#15 / The Anxiety Issue
Hey y’all, I’m a bit anxious. We’ve gone from having five radiant caterpillar children to one. I’ve been watching them all week, trying to work on the porch...
#14 / In a Big City
Hi everyone, How about some plant pictures? On Saturday morning, we went to Gethsemane, the nursery up the street, to pick out some plants and pots for the...
#13 / Mattering
Howdy, Well, that was a hell of a week. Now I know what I’ll say to people in fifty years when they ask me: “What was it like to watch history happen in real...
#12 / Justice For Floyd
Heyyy there, Changed up the salutation this week, as you can see. Might make a habit of it. The moment calls for a lighter, more familiar greeting. Maybe as...
#11 / Be An Echo
Hi everyone, Yesterday we went on a walk through Rosehill Cemetery. It was a warm, sunny day, with a nice cool breeze off the lake. Everything was in bloom,...
#10 / Resolve
Hi everyone, This week I realized that I have been doing New Year’s Resolutions all wrong. For most of my life I wasn’t doing them at all. I always thought...
#9 / Keep Trying
Hi everyone, As some of you know, I’ve been lucky to be published a few times in my life. But I’ve also gone through long periods in between. When I was 10,...
#8 / Adventuring
Hi everyone, I took Thursday and Friday off. This corresponded nicely with spring’s long-awaited arrival. The weekend has been so nice that it feels like...
#7 / The Lucky One
Hi everyone, This week we found out that Illinois is extending our stay-at-home order until May 31. We’re also required to wear masks when visiting essential...
#6 / Honey's Not Home
Hi everyone, It’s crazy sunny and gorgeous in Chicago today. Two days ago it snowed all morning. What are you gonna do? I left my neighborhood twice (two...
#5 / Love Is Like a Promise
Hi everyone, It is sunny in Chicago! At least, it has been for maybe three days this week? I’m counting it. On Tuesday it got into the seventies. I got...
#4 / The World Is A Narrow Bridge
Hi everyone, Greetings from week three of self-quarantine. In Chicago we are now under shelter-in-place until the end of April at minimum. McCormick Place,...
#3 / Happy
Hi everyone, Yesterday was my birthday! What is my age? Well, I am either old or young, depending on whom you ask. I can’t go anywhere to celebrate, but...
#2 / Translate Your Love Into Action
Hi everyone, Welcome to weekly email #2! Thanks for sticking around — I feel like the only thing that's not cancelled right now. (P.S. If you're getting this...
#1 / The First One
Hi everyone, I know your inboxes are currently lousy with COVID-19 emails from literally every business you’ve ever even walked past, so I appreciate you...