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RIP Live PD
I don’t think I’m being overly dramatic when I say: It has been a couple of seriously heavy weeks in this country. And, honestly, I don’t even feel like writing. Literally, the only writing I seem to be able to force myself to do is contractually obligated items with a hard deadline. I’m in awe…
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Welcome to the Annex
In the summertime, when we were kids, our mom would kick us out of the trailer and lock the door. She’d leave a big red Igloo water cooler of Kool Aid and a sleeve of saltines on the porch and would tell us to basically entertain ourselves all day – “you kids go play.” I’ve…
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Coronavirus Couture: In Defense of Quarantine Jeans
Hello fellow hunker downers, shut-ins, and just plain ol’ normal, work-from-home freelancers. I have a question: Why are we mad at pants? And by “we,” I mean collectively as a people and as a country. Is there some conspiracy theory floating around that pants are what caused the coronavirus? I’m not sure whether to believe…
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Hair Accessories to Cover the Quarantine Grays (Inspired by Bravo)
As Leslie Jordan of Instagram fame would say: Hello, all you fellow hunker downers. (I know you’re already following him on Instagram. He’s got 3.5 million followers. But if you’re not, you should. His hot takes on quarantining are gold. Pure, Instagram gold.) So, it’s getting to be that time. No, not time to begin…
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Reality TV Time: Too Hot to Handle
Whelp, Netflix has done it again. The streaming TV service is legit winning the quarantine game, releasing one splendid, bingeworthy, let’s-forget-what-day-it-is-and-escape-this-hellish-landscape-called-modern-life program after another. Their latest offering: #THTH, otherwise known as “Too Hot to Handle.” (I know I said I was going to talk about Tiger King, but honestly, in this fast-paced, binging environment, TK…
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The Great Coronavirus Novel: Prologue
(blows dust off blog landing page) This seems like a good time to restart this thing, right? I mean, after all, we’re all supposed to come out of this quarantine business with having acquired a lucrative side hustle, learned a new foreign language and musical instrument, perfected the art of sourdough bread baking and putting…
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Grieving When You Don’t Feel Grief
Two big things happened since I last popped in here: One, we went to New Zealand for three weeks in November. It was an amazing trip and I plan to blog all about it. But not today. The bigger thing that happened is that my mother died in September, which is such a weird thing…
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The Battle for Mexico’s Beaches
It hits you in the face the minute you open a door or window. A virtual presence that is so primal, your brain goes into full denial, telling you it can’t possibly be what you think it is. Perhaps that disconnect is made all the more dissonant by the fact that you are quite literally…
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How to Answer the Question, ‘Did You Go Anywhere This Summer’ Without Being Awkward
I’ve discovered a new, annoying habit. Actually, I’ve caught both myself and my travel-partner-for-life, XFE doing it a lot over the past few weeks. We’ll be talking to friends or neighbors or coworkers or the pet sitter or (in my case) the eye doctor. We’ll be chatting, catching up on our lives and the latest…
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Ode to El Paso
I’m from El Paso. It’s my hometown. Yes, I’ve lived in other parts of Texas, including Austin, and Dallas. I have family in San Antonio, and in Oregon, in Louisiana and other places, I’m sure, but we all came from El Paso. My mother’s dad exited the military while he was stationed at Fort Bliss…