final story
My SIL adopted two kittens. This is Zuma and Rocky. They are named after characters from Paw Patrol, a show my nephew Jacob loved. Also they are maniacs. Hi,...
postcard from PA
Dear Buttondown, Thanks for your email pointing out I haven’t written anything in a while. To answer your question about whether I’m having technical issues:...
family photos/awards
My great-grandfather’s tobacco shed Apologies for slacking on this email thing. I have two legitimate excuses, one of which follows in story form. I’ll save...
on the universe rebalancing itself
You can stay on a 100-year-old boat in Edinburgh. My room, at the end of the boat, was called The Bitter End. Two quick stories about the universe kind of…...
postcard from Scotland
this is somehow a real place Hello from The Middle of Nowhere (TMON for short), aka the southwestern coast of Scotland. The closest major city is Belfast,...
fire in Ward 3
I just discovered the Live Auctioneers website. Someone confiscate my credit card. Monday afternoon, a friend called me. “Marjorie Cranberry! Are you home...
New hobby, new metaphor
She’s 40 years old, sometimes 50. And she’s exhausted. After spending the best years of her life quietly serving other people, she was dumped for a cheaper,...
they say DC is hollywood for ugly people
But we have some impressive buildings? I went to the protest outside the Treasury Department last night. A few people have asked me about it, so here’s my...
crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious
I’ve named him R2D2 Are you watching the TikTok videos of all the people in New Orleans having fun in the snow? I’ve seen Mardi Gras snowmen, sledding on air...
snow days and cough medicine
“Jesus Laughing,” as seen at a thrift store last week. I got carded for Robitussin at Target. I looked at the sales clerk like, “are you serious?” and she...
how not to cope
I’d hoped like hell that Harris would win. I thought she had a chance, however small, to beat someone so blatantly immoral, corrupt, evil. That I might...
Old clothes as distraction
Some donations waiting to be sorted If you have anxiety about the upcoming election, how are you handling it? Instead of going to Harris rallies downtown,...
baby books and writing through it
I need more midcentury owl art like I need a hole in the head, but damn this is perfect. Do you ever start looking for one thing, only to discover something...
personal essay Mad Libs
The opposite of what I looked like during colonoscopy prep a few days ago I signed up for this online writing class at Narratively. Every day the instructor...
performance v. practice
DC small world story #1 A few months ago, chatting with other volunteers sorting clothing donations, I learned that “Jane” also went to my tiny high school;...
Donation feedback
There’s some really fun vintage art on the internet A regular volunteer shift at A Wider Circle is supposed to be two hours. I recently spent six hours...
very mindful, very demure
10-year-old me on Christmas morning “She saved everything. There are mailing envelopes with everyone’s names on them. They’re filled with cards.” My aunt is...
Big Bertha speaks
How I got most of the way to Poland TO: Olivier Krueger, Lufthansa CMO FR: Big Bertha, Airbus A380 RE: Improvements to our ad campaigns As you may be aware,...
a final grandmother post
My grandmother, in 1991 or 1992, standing on a chair so she could be taller than me. My grandmother died two Fridays ago. Peacefully and at home. She was...
pattern recognition
I almost bid on this. A couple weeks ago, my aunt called me. I did not answer because I was driving. I waited until I got to my destination to call her back....