Birding taught me something this week: you don’t rush. You move from perch to perch. You stop. You wait. You notice. This essay does the same.Perch: PaperThis week, for Environmental Imagination, we read The Conference of the Birds. This is

Prized Archie Comic Book CollectionThis week for Environmental Imagination we have the theme of Flora, Fungi, and Fauna: Encountering a “Cabinet of Curiosities.” In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald introduces the idea of the Wunderkammer—a cabinet of curiosities, or more directly

(I wonder what Otis is dreaming about….turn sound on for the full wonderment!)I just started Vesper Flights for my Environmental Imagination course, and honestly — don’t you already love that title?Environmental. Imagination.As if the world is inviting us back into

For a long time, I thought home was a place you could point to on a map.Colorado felt like home.Then Nashville did.Now Pittsburgh does too.But somewhere along the way, I realized that none of those places ever fully answered the

Intentions. Prepare a story about the best-laid plans. As I sit at my desk, laptop open, blank screen, my coffee nearly finished, I’m faced with it. Writing. Funny, not funny. I started an MFA in creative writing program at Chatham

I got some hard feedback recently—from more than one person.Apparently… I’m not a great communicator.Oof.Right to the throat.If you know me, you know this is the hill I would’ve sworn I could die on: going there, getting real, saying the

We’re counting down to the second Wicked movie coming out, and the other night I said to Kelly, very earnestly:“Wait—there are two Wicked movies??”She blinked.“Yes,” she said. “There was a first one. We saw it together.”And I swear to you:

Something has felt a bit off lately. Maybe it’s the move to Pittsburgh — this new house, this new rhythm, this new version of community. Maybe it’s being both student and teacher at Chatham University. Maybe it’s turning 50 —

Someone once told me you can have anything in the world you want—if you’re willing to ask a thousand people for it.I think about that a lot. Has anyone ever actually done it?There’s a woman who stands outside Margeaux’s restaurant

Lately, I’ve been noticing how often I chase the feeling of being productive more than I chase the feeling of being alive.That tiny hit of satisfaction when I cross something off my list — the email sent, the load of

On grief, belonging, and reclaiming the blue and gold.Content note: mentions of school violence and grief.When I say I’m a cougar, let’s be clear: I don’t mean the older-woman-chasing-younger-boys thing. Ewww. No. I mean Evergreen High School. Blue and gold.

Not Evergreen. Not Again.A school shooting reopens old wounds and binds us in collective grief.I felt my phone buzz in my pocket in the dark movie theater. Potential spam again? But then I glanced at my watch: my best friend.

Sunday morning therapy. I’ve got my vanilla latte in hand—because let’s not be heathens here—and ’ line, “$150 a week on therapy,” is ringing in my ears as I stroll in, ready to dive into the mess of me.

Molly Booker, First Day of Grade 25, Masters Fine Art in Creative Writing, Chatham UniversityI’m starting my fourth master’s degree and yet, somehow, this feels like my first one. For decades, I’ve done school using my work ethic, my mind,

Last night, Kelly and I did the let’s go to bed dance.We’ve both been a mess this week: congestion, hot/cold swings, restless legs, perimenopausal everything. Sleep has been elusive, so we decided to try turning in together, like civilized adults.I

I woke up this morning feeling a little better. The sinus fog is lifting. My first thought: Yay, I can finally get some shit done.The laundry. The yard. The watering. The dogs. And the list grows. There’s stuff everywhere. Purchases