i am finally realizing that you are everywhere, and i’m just going to have to get used to it. i see you at the grocery store, at the bar, in my living room, in my portland living room, in my paris dorm hallway, in my suitcase, in my purse, in my wallet, in the shower, […]

it seems like everyone i know is listening to the new coldplay record today. i, for one, just can't stop. it's perfect music for cloud watching and memory diving, which is all i want to do today.

two men exchange handshakes and papers beside a white car parked in my driveway. they are not my upstairs neighbors. they are not supposed to be there. i turn, once, to let them know i see them. i turn again, to let them know i am watching. and then i go inside, peeking through the […]

this girl is beautiful. she and i talk on and off about the struggles we face: to be healthy, to be tough, to be creative. i think she is doing an amazing job, honestly; she inspires me. and look, now, at her paintings. tell me that you wouldn't be inspired, too.

something magical happened this afternoon while i was driving down the 101: i got stuck in traffic. this wasn’t the typical 3-car pile-up sig alert on the other side of the freeway but you have to look anyway and slow everyone else down kind of traffic. it was something else. it was cotton — willowy […]

it gets harder and harder to tell stories that are real. and i know why. it’s because those that i have are not really mine to tell. they involve other people, people who deserve privacy. it wouldn’t be fair for me to tell you of their sadness and worry and stress. it just wouldn’t. so […]

what i heard first was a flat tire. the flip-flopping of rubber spinning clumsily against the pavement. is that my tire? i thought. is that the car next to me? i looked to my right and saw a flag the size of college-ruled paper flapping in the wind. it wasn’t a tire, it was the […]

on the drive home from san diego, i saw a man hiking up a hill on the side of the highway. it was a straight path at a 15-degree angle and i had no idea where he thought he was going. it looked like a road to nowhere. –5 freeway, somewhere between san diego and […]

the one thing lisa & salim wanted to do on their vacation last weekend that didn't involve food was visit spaceland. lucky for us, irving was playing a cd release party saturday night, so there was a good reason to go. i had never heard of the l.a. natives, but l & s had seen […]

i was sitting on the sofa, near comatose due to heat exhaustion, rewinding the Felicity video for lisa, when i happened upon bouldering (fancy rock climbing), on channel 4. never would i imagine this to be a delightful sport to watch, but oh my god, the ARMS on those boys. (okay, so some girls are […]

before kerri turned weird, she was cool. she sat in the back of the classroom and made blue bic ink doodles in a strathmore sketchbook. hourglass ladies with waterfall hair and heart-shaped lips. boys wearing baseball caps and converse sneakers. she perfected the catholic school girl with nobby knees. i don’t know how, but i […]

the lady who sat at the table beside me is my new hero, not because she had a mess of curls atop her head, not because she had red specs that matched her ruby lips, not because she was writing in a moleskine notebook. no. it is because she ordered a t-bone steak and ate […]

the lady who sat at the table beside me was replaced by a boy who talked so loudly i had to turn the volume on my headphones up. way up. remind me to tell you about the time in paris that he did way too many drugs and fell ill. “that was a long time […]

james was all tattoos and swearing. he would hitch a ride on my backpack, coasting behind me on his skateboard. the echo of our laughter would follow us down the hallway, “HA HA HA HA HA  HA HA  HA HA HA!” james was filipino, but his hair was never jet black. last i remember it […]