Finding moments when success and failure are irrelevant.
Leaving the House
Remember that you don’t need a crisis to justify taking care of yourself
City People
We’re living in a city during a pandemic. You live in the city for the culture. The people, the arts, the food, the sights, the energy. So when those things all stop, what do you do? I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Hearing stories of folks leaving cities en masse, yet I still feel... Continue Reading →
The Last Party
On February 29, 2020, Pete and I threw a party. We drank pints with dozens of our friends all night at Dovetail Brewery. After closing, we filled our home with friends till it was late: sitting with drinks on the floor, playing card games next to folks on the sofa, making cocktails in the kitchen. ... Continue Reading →
Amid the Horrors
The derecho hit on a Monday afternoon. I didn’t know what a “derecho” was, aside from human rights in Spanish, until suddenly I did. A hundreds-of-miles-long storm of hurricane winds tearing across the midwestern plains. Here: two hours of darkness, and winds, and rain, and trees falling across the city, onto cars and houses, blocking... Continue Reading →
Naming with Respect
In the course of a conversation recently, I told someone that I’d changed my name when I got married, a person who has only ever known me as Jamie Waters. I was totally taken aback by their reaction. I didn’t write down what he said (because it would have been rude), but here is the... Continue Reading →
Short reflections on a year of activism
About a year ago, I started training to become a volunteer advocate with Rape Victim Advocates—a rape crisis center in Chicago. Today, after being on-call all night for RVA after well over 300 hours of on-call nights, training courses, and volunteer organization with them, I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve done in the past year... Continue Reading →
Rest
As an athlete, I’ve always known that rest days were important. You need to build recovery days into your routine, so you don’t literally injure yourself. And obviously, you also take days off from work. But what about the rest of my life? Do you need rest days from socializing? From creativity? From cooking? From... Continue Reading →
Texas and the many cultures in America
The scale of distance changes drastically from city to city and town to town in America. We spent the last week in Texas, San Antonio and Houston, and we rented a car for the second time this year. Even though we were going to be in urban centers, we needed an automobile to get around.... Continue Reading →
Going to the Cinema
Things have changed in movie theaters. I learned this two weeks ago, and up to that point I hadn't been to a film in America in over 3 years. I only realized this gap in my experience when it occurred to me that I wanted to see Avengers: Age of Ultron, and didn't know how I should buy tickets. I... Continue Reading →
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