Published in P.S. I Love You·PinnedWhat Happens to Our Love When It’s Filtered Through GriefProcessing 2020 in a cemetery so you don’t have to. — A few weeks after the presidential election was called back in my home country, the United States of Giving-Me-An-Ulcer, I went out to Barcelona’s Poblenou Cemetery looking for a famous statue. …Love13 min read
Published in Human Parts·PinnedTo Understand Our Scary World, Read About Fire-Breathing DragonsWhat a princess, a knight, and an evil dragon can teach us about Covid-19 — We have not even to risk the adventure alone for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination we shall find God. And where…Covid 1911 min read
PinnedThe Statues in Egypt Used to Have EyeballsThis. Changes. Everything. — Mitri the Scribe was once the highest-paid servant of Pharaoh Unas in the 24th century BC. He was the guy you went to if you wanted a temple built, or a letter written, or if you needed a funny idea for a personalized license plate. Now he sits in the…Travel10 min read
Published in The Writing Cooperative·PinnedHow to Keep Online Readers Engaged in Long ArticlesCheck in with your audience and avoid shouting into the void — According to a study by Microsoft, humans now have an attention span of eight seconds. Eight seconds! Don’t ask me for details on the study, I only skimmed it. And please don’t click away to that study link, I only included it so you’d believe me. Anyway, if you’ve made…Writing10 min read
Apr 4, 2021The Dumpster-Fire Politics of Living AbroadThe inevitability (and responsibility) of getting swept up in another country’s politics. — Two years ago, I stood on my apartment balcony in Barcelona, Spain, and watched a group of 40–50 young people with dark clothes and bandanas tied around their faces as they dragged every nearby dumpster from the sidewalks to the middle of the crosswalks and set them on fire. …Travel11 min read
Mar 19, 2021The Irony of Surveillance Cameras in George Orwell Square“Orwellian debate” is an oxymoron, but that appears to be what we’re having. Tourists go to George Orwell Square in Barcelona all the time, hoping to relive that spooked/sanctimonious feeling they felt when they first read 1984 as an angry teenager. They’re often disappointed by the fact that the square…Strawberry 202112 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Mar 13, 2021The First Recorded Same-Sex Couple in HistoryOMG, they were tomb-mates. — I’m going to rip the bandaid off real quick here by letting all my gaybies know that there is significant (as in “much”, not “important”) debate about the nature of the relationship between Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum…History7 min read
Feb 28, 2021How a Little Girl and Her Flashlight Got Me Through COVID-19Strangers, symbols, and signs from the universe. — When I was at my sickest, when I was worried for my life and the lives of my loved ones, there was the little girl with the light. She lived across the plaza from me in the Dreta de ‘Eixample (“Right of the Extension”) district of Barcelona. In the plaza…Strawberry 202112 min read
Published in UX Collective·Feb 15, 2021Sagrada Familia: The divine creative freedom of architect Antoni GaudíA celebration of science and spirit. — I’ve started a little tradition for myself. I never leave La Sagrada Familia Cathedral without sitting down in a pew and meditating, specifically on what it means to live a sacred life. I’m not a religious person, but I think a sacred life means looking up and around at your…History9 min read
Feb 7, 2021How the Concept of Pain Has Changed Throughout HistoryAnd why you feel like an a-hole for complaining about it now. — Churches in Europe are on a whole other level, man. And yet I’m somehow drawn to them like I was to the Cinnabon shop back at the mall in Tucson. There’s something irresistible about an over-opulent assault on the senses mixed with guilt and bodily hostility. I can’t believe I…Strawberry 20219 min read
