Featured Posts
Hosting Myself Out of a Party
What if you hosted a party and nobody came? Or worse, only one person came, so you had to put on a brave face for hours until the event was over and you could have a good, long cry?
It would be damn tempting to never have a party again. Or at least not a Soulard Mardi Gras parade pre-party.
But at some point during the long year between one Lent and the next, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, there was another perspective on why people who had partied with me in the past didn’t return.
Cannamom Break Stereotypes?
Kimberlee Kesterson and Jessica Carroll have been cannabis users for longer than they’ve been parents—but both facets of their identity dovetail in STL Cannamoms, the social organization that they founded three years ago. And it turns out there were a lot of other parents just like them looking to connect and improve their well-being.
Trusting Your Life to Golden Coils of Grass
Does it take courage to be the first one to cross this one-of-a-kind bridge, re-woven from grass every June? Or does it take trust in the craftsmanship of one man, descended from five centuries of bridge-builders? I’m completely fascinated by this story from Eliot Stein’s book “Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive.”
Community IDs for New Residents Suddenly Make a Splash
I’m guessing that most of the folks who renew their resident card each year in my suburb don’t know any of the backstory about municipal IDs and wouldn’t connect the card they scan at the pool to the wider conversations around immigration, trust in law enforcement, access to healthcare, support for the arts, and more.
The Dawn-ing of a Social Lubricant
A few years ago, Dawn started bringing along watercolors to gatherings. We’d be sitting around in someone’s back yard, and she’d be sketching and painting away … and suddenly the scene would come to life in her little book. As a word person, I find the process of watching a blank page fill with art completely magical. And letting others witness that process seems very brave to me. But for Dawn, it’s the exact opposite. Creating in public brings her comfort, especially in new settings where she might otherwise feel uncomfortable.
Reporting from the Squirrel Cooking World Championship
This story from Eater about the World Champion Squirrel Cook Off is my favorite kind of writing: quirky, fun, but ultimately very respectful of the unique people and traditions that make our world so wonderfully diverse.
One Year Into a Heartwarming Journey That No One Wants to Be On
In 2023, a little boy named Logan was hit by a car. But I don’t want you to think about his life as a tragedy. He is full of joy, and his grandmother is full of determination to help him achieve his full potential. I’m honored to have been entrusted with their story.
Watercolors of ‘Colorful Threads’ (aka Immigrants)
In “Threads: A Celebration of the Immigrant Story in Watercolor,” artist Carol Carter is responding to the newcomers in her community, going one-on-one with them through the intimate act of painting their portraits. As the introductory essay promises, “Each one acts as a beacon of freedom and opportunity; together—drawn from every corner of the world—Threads shows an America bursting with energy.”
Being Arab in My Suburb in the 1970s
Our suburban school district has a reputation for not having much diversity. And it has always irked me. On our street alone, there are people from Ecuador, Mexico, and Vietnam. A man from Ireland who used to live down the block just moved houses. The catch is that most of these people don’t look like they’re from somewhere else. And that’s why I love the title of the book “But You Don’t Look Arab: And Other Tales of Unbelonging” by Emmy Award-winning international journalist Hala Gorani, which includes cameos from folks I actually know.
Translating the Sights of the Holidays for Those with Vision Impairments
When my son was diagnosed with red-green colorblindness as a teenager in 2019, fall colors were at their height. I suddenly understood why he had always been meh about the changing leaves—unless they happened to be vibrant yellow. In the past three years, I’ve learned a great deal about my son’s visual experiences, and I’m better (but nowhere near perfect) at skipping past colors and identifying the many other sensory delights during the winter holidays.
Snoot Sandwiches, Sundown Towns and a Chef’s Reckoning with Racism
I didn’t know what a sundown town was until I moved to St. Louis. And I’ll be honest, it still jars me to hear people describe it casually, as in this deeply personal segment of the local TV show “Food Is Love.” I don’t want to give away spoilers about what Chef Lasse Sorensen learns about his own complicity in this episode, which aired in 2022. But I commend him for his brutal honesty in sharing the lesson publicly as it unfolded.