So...how's it going? Did you know that earlier someone asked me how life was and I said, "I think fine"? Okay? Isn't that sort of weird? Like why wouldn't I just say, "fine"? Why nuance it by adding the "I think"? People aren't looking for that kind of complexity. This got neurotic really fast. Sorry. …
The Last Thing I Want to Say
Today a severe storm system came through Indianapolis/its surrounding communities. A tornado touched down in Plainfield, not far at all from where we used to live. I was at work at the time of the storm in an office building on the northside of Indy, at Keystone and 465, and my coworkers and I nervously …
Lone Wolf–Or Not
I don't really know what I want to write about tonight. Part of me was hoping that if I showed up here, in this space, that something would come out of me--like, that the act of being here would remind me of who I am and what I want to say to all of you …
Magnetic Repulsion
My almost-3-year-old daughter, Margot, has a dolly/blankie that has been her Favorite Thing since she was old enough to have a favorite thing. In fact, she recently told me that Dolly is "her sister." So you see, they are quite close. The problem, however, with Margot and Dolly's relationship is that Margot can't seem to …
Walking
The summer after my sophomore year of college, I went home. That seems unremarkable to say, but the previous summer, I had gone home, but for only the briefest moment, and only so that I could gather up my pertinent belongings and depart again. Not to return to college but to head to Walcamp in Illinois …
Reminders and Restarts
It has been a week of rejuvenation, and this makes sense, if we are taking our hint from the natural world. My garden has been fluffing itself up with coral bell, columbine, butterfly bush, Russian sage, yarrow--they are filling out and filling up their respective beds. A half-dead azalea bush that I bought for something like …
Thoughts on Being Lost
"I was lost, but now I live here! I have severely improved my predicament!" --Mitch Hedberg +++ Some thoughts on being lost: --We tell people to get lost because we want them to go away, and presumably, be so successful at their going away that they never come back. At least until we're un-mad at …
Why I Write Creative Nonfiction
Of all the types of writing I could take on, why creative nonfiction? Here's how I came to it. When, during the second semester of my first year of grad school at IUPUI, I landed in my first ever creative nonfiction writing class, I was only months from having given birth to my first child, …
Why It’s Awesome to Get Older
One of my best friends turned thirty today, and I had this plan all day of writing her a collection of hilarious happy birthday Facebook posts welcoming her to the big 3-0, and then I got in a totally bad mood about Facebook, and I tried to disable my account, and I did, and I …
Unwritten Letters
Think Kit by Smallbox continues throughout the year with a prompt-a-month setup, and I suggested the prompt chosen for February, so I better write it, yeah? Write a letter to someone whom you never got a chance to thank for the role they played in your life. What was it about that person that mattered …
Jackie Lutzke 