I wake up before the alarm. Through un-curtained windows, the morning light is already pouring in, filling the room with a warm glow. There are birds chirping away happily in the trees just outside my window. It's so very quiet. I pad across the room to the bathroom, thinking about how we'll need to get …
Home is where…
When I was living in the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula), we used to go see local-legend Gary Tunstall play at the bar. Toward the end of the night, when everyone was good and liquored up, he would play a song he wrote called "Straight Up." It's mostly an instrumental song, played fast and bright on …
Fording the river
It was cold, windy, and snowing; the perfect day for a walking tour in a new part of the city. Some time ago, sharing in my excitement of exploring every corner of New York, my mom had sent me a pack of walking tour cards. There were about 50 or so, each a pleasant walk …
Heading Downtown
2007 was a year of real things. A real job. A real engagement. A real apartment. No longer the starry-eyed grad student in the heavily-subsidized apartment, I spent the winter laying low and saving money for a place to live. I wanted to stay on the Upper West Side, or return to the Village, or …
Settling in
After an incredible fellowship at the Museum, I returned to Michigan to finish my senior year at university. Though nearly the moment I returned, I applied for grad school at Columbia to get back to New York. It was my version of having it all--a good graduate school in the city I'd fallen head-over-heels for? …
Arrival
New York was always a fairy tale for me. Growing up in the Midwest, there's always a lot of talk about "getting out" and "going to the city" (this is back before Detroit was cool again). And some made it--they went to Chicago, or Minneapolis, or Grand Rapids, which was somehow always included in that …
Thinking about thirty-five
For most high school students in the US, turning 18 is a big deal. You're legally an adult. You're responsible for things. You can vote. You're eligible for the draft, if you're male. The way that the government, the military, and businesses view you completely changes. It's as though you acquire a new definition of …
Kicking the tires
It's been a long time since I've written in the old blog. About 4.5 years. In it's heyday, I generally wrote about 2 posts per month, with general updates or stories that I wanted to tell. For a brief period, when the basement of our apartment building flooded and all residents were homeless for about …
Living and Learning 